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Michael W. Smith’s 12th Book Releases in 2011

By on December 10, 2010 in Music News

A SIMPLE BLESSING; THE EXTRAORDINARY POWER OF AN ORDINARY PRAYER” RELEASES NATIONWIDE MARCH 2011
(Source: The Media Collective)

Michael W Smith Book Cover(NASHVILLE, Tenn.) December 7, 2010 — GRAMMY ® and GMA Dove Award winning, multi-platinum selling recording artist Michael W. Smith reaches another milestone in his 28 year career with the release his 12th book, “A Simple Blessing; The Extraordinary Power of an Ordinary Prayer,” in March 2011 (Zondervan).

Smith, known for his compassion and generosity, has been impacted by stories of those hardest-hit by life changing devastation. From the effects of the economic downturn to families losing loved ones to natural disasters half a world away. Recently, Smith has felt led to close his concerts with a prayer of blessing over his audience. A simple prayer of blessing, sparked a response unlike anything he’s experienced in his 28 years of ministry.

Letters and e-mails poured in, relaying stories of the encouragement, empowerment and hope brought to troubled lives. An organic move to prayer is taking place.

From this response Smith discovered that God’s blessings are measured more by the flourishing of character in adversity than the flourishing of possessions, and that the result in such is overflowing joy and peace. Collaborating with accomplished writer Thomas Williams, Smith’s desire and purpose in writing the book was to encourage and inspire readers to examine their hearts and learn to experience God’s blessing as well as to speak words of blessing to others to draw them nearer to the heart of God.

This book breaks the prayer Smith prays into its six specific Blessings: What Does It Mean to Pray for Others, The Prayer for Spiritual Health, The Prayer for a Pure Mind, The Prayer for Personal Holiness, The Prayer for Backyard Blessings, and The Prayer for Spiritual Victory. Each chapter begins with a quote containing the segment of the blessing it will address. Then the chapter explains the value of the blessing and gives practical guidance on how to open oneself to the blessing and enjoy its benefits. An example of one blessing is in The Prayer for a Pure Mind:

Be blessed with supernatural strength to turn your eyes from foolish, worthless, and
evil things, and to shut out the demeaning and the negative. Instead may you behold the
beauty of things that God has planned for you as you obey His Word. May God bless you
ears to hear the lovely, the uplifting, and the encouraging. May your mind be strong,
disciplined, balanced, and faith-filled.

Following the blessing Smith goes on to describe how the impact of our culture is determining how our minds are affected (or not) by entertainment: “We’re being conditioned to accept the negative as the normal. From time to time I’ve expressed to friends my disappointment with a TV show or my longing for a movie with a hero I could admire for his values or his refusal to compromise. More often than not, the response I get is that I’m not moving with the times. The movies of the past were not realistic, they tell me….They want movie heroes with real flaws like the rest of us. No one is altogether pure or altogether evil. And if movies, TV shows, and novels are honest, they will give us characters who reflect that natural mixture.”

And then in approaching the value of the blessing he says : “I know that today’s movie critics would dismiss films such as ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ as unrealistic, wishful fantasies with impossibly good heroes and sappy happy-ever-after endings…I beg to differ. The grunge, corruption, immorality, and violence that critics like to call reality are not reality at all. The true reality is found beneath the blight in what God created in the beginning — the perfection of the world as he originally made it. Only the good that God created is real. We came along and added the corruption, evil, pain, decay, and death, which are not reality but contaminations of reality…. The story God wrote has a happy-ever-after ending that promises eternal joy to those who focus on the pure and lovely and adopt true character into their lives. If we focus our eyes and ears on things that give us glimpses of that happy reality, it will go a long way toward enabling us to receive the blessings God wants to pour into us.”

Smith recently wrapped the very successful “Make A Difference” Tour with Max Lucado , TobyMac and Third Day, and recently launched his, “It’s a Wonderful Christmas” tour on November 26th in his hometown of Nashville, Tenn. He also recently announced the “2 Friends” tour with Amy Grant, which marks the first time the two will tour together (for a non-holiday tour) in more than two decades. The multi-city U.S. tour will kick off in early February.

For more information on “A Simple Blessing; The Extraordinary Power of an Ordinary Prayer,” and Michael W. Smith, please visit http://www.michaelwsmith.com or http://www.zondervan.com/Cultures/en-US/Product/ProductDetail.htm?ProdID=com.zondervan.9780310327561&QueryStringSite=Zondervan.

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About Michael W. Smith: Throughout his 28-year career as a recording artist, Michael W. Smith has amassed an impressive catalog of achievements. His prior 21 albums have garnered multiple honors including an American Music Award, three GRAMMY ® Awards (from 13 nominations), 44 GMA Dove Awards (in addition to 1 nomination in the 41st Annual GMA Dove Awards) and 33 No. 1 radio hits. In addition, he holds 16 Gold, 7 Platinum and 2 Double-Platinum albums for career sales approaching 17 million. Wonder, Smith’s 22nd career album, released Sept. 28, 2010. Smith, who was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2009, has scored several film projects, written 12 books and has been featured by media outlets including “Hannity,” NBC’s “Today Show,” ABC’s “Good Morning America,” “NBC Nightly News,” “Larry King Live,” “FOX & Friends,” “Hannity and Colmes,” The Associated Press, Billboard magazine, USA Today, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, has been named one of People magazine’s “Most Beautiful People” and has presented multiple times on the GRAMMY ®Awards show. His tours consistently rank among the best attended in the country, and he has performed to capacity crowds throughout the world. 

Constantly giving back to the community, one of Smith’s current projects is Rocketown – a nightclub for teens in his hometown of Nashville, Tenn. – which serves as safe place for young people to enjoy music and for artists to be discovered. He and wife of 29 years, Debbie, are the proud parents of five children. For up-to-date information on Michael W. Smith, please visit www.michaelwsmith.com or www.providentpress.com.

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Toby Mac Nominated For His Seventh Grammy

By on December 3, 2010 in Music News

Toby Mac Garners His Seventh Grammy Nomination For Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album

(Source: The Media Collective)

Toby MacNashville, TN… Dec. 2, 2010… Multi-platinum selling and already five-time GRAMMY ® Award winning artist TobyMac, has been honored with his seventh solo GRAMMY ® Award nomination for “Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album.” The 53rd Annual GRAMMY ® Awards are slated for February 13, 2011 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA. The ceremony will be broadcast LIVE on CBS at 8pm EST/PT.

“I Love what I do,” says TobyMac. “I love making records with my friends. Painstaking at times, but always passionate. A GRAMMY ® nom for Tonight is humbling, exciting and truly an honor. It really is!”

In addition to the GRAMMY ® nod, this week TobyMac released a brand new holiday single “Christmas This Year,” which also features the talents of Leigh Nash from Sixpence None The Richer. The Christmas song is available now exclusively at iTunes® and is impacting Christian AC and CHR radio this week.

Also available now is TobyMac’s latest project, TobyMac: Moving Pictures, a DVD that features his entire work of music videos including his biggest hits “Irene”, “Extreme Days”, “Gone”, “Boomin’”, “Lose My Soul” and more. Also included is a brand new video for “Tonight” and 2 bonus Director’s Videos that feature unique short films set to his music.

Currently the Forefront recording artist is performing in front of massive audiences on the Winter Wonder Slam presents the Awake Tonight tour with rock band Skillet. The tour is attracting enormous crowds in key markets such as Minneapolis, which sold out at 13k tickets while over 12k fans paid in Houston. Shortly after the holidays, TobyMac will head back on the road in early 2011 for his Winter Wonder Slam Tour accompanied by Dove Award winning artist Brandon Heath and Gotee Records’ House of Heroes.

For more information on TobyMac, please visit www.tobymac.com.

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About TobyMac:
With over 10 million in career sales, TobyMac’s first three solo projects received RIAA Gold status and GRAMMY® nominations, his live CD/DVD took home a GRAMMY® award in 2009, and this year the much-celebrated and acclaimed artist is celebrating his seventh consecutive GRAMMY® nomination for his latest album “Tonight” for “Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album.” The track topped the sales and radio charts faster than any of his previous singles, spending 8 weeks at #1 on the Christian Audience Chart. The single was the first release from TobyMac’s latest, “TONIGHT,” which also garnered him the highest sales debut of his solo career with over 78,000 units and a No. 6 Billboard Top 200 debut.

Along with sold out tour dates, back-to-back radio hits and being named the GMA Dove Award’s 2008 Artist of the Year, the title-track of TobyMac’s latest album was also chosen as the theme song for MLB’s 30 Clubs in 30 Days Spring Training Series and featured on the Golf Channel. In addition, his music has been heard in major motion pictures such as “Hancock,” “TRANSPORTER 2,” while also being featured on Fox sports, The NFL network, being selected as the theme song for Fox College Football, WWE’s Fatal 4-Way Pay-Per-View and “Showstopper” was featured in ESPN’s ESPY Award Show and most recently chosen to launch the new season of CBS hit television show CSI: NY. For more information on TobyMac, go to: http://www.tobymac.com.

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ENTERTAINMENT ONE MUSIC ANNOUNCES THE FORMATION OF eOne MUSIC NASHVILLE

By on November 30, 2010 in Music News

ENTERTAINMENT ONE MUSIC ANNOUNCES THE FORMATION OF eOne MUSIC NASHVILLE

New subsidiary includes 5 distinct operating groups;
Michael Olsen named head of eOne Music Nashville
(Source: Vining Media )
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

(New York, NY) – November 30, 2010 – Entertainment One Music announces the formation of eOne Music Nashville along with several executive appointments.  eOne Music Nashville will house the assets of IndieBlu Music, which the company acquired in April, with its existing Christian, Country, Licensing and Music Publishing operations.  IndieBlu is now known as eOne Music Nashville or simply eOne Music.
eOne Music Nashville will be the umbrella for 5 distinct operating groups.  These include Light Records, the company’s Black Gospel music label, eOne Christian Music, which specializes in contemporary Christian music, and eOne Music Nashville focusing on Americana, country, and regional-based music.  In addition to the music labels, eOne Music Licensing is responsible for all synch and third party master use licensing for all of eOne’s music assets and eOne Music Publishing licenses and administrates all of eOne’s musical compositions.  In future months, eOne Nashville will also become the focal point for the acquisition and development of faith-based film and television programming.
Michael Olsen, the former CEO of IndieBlu, has been named President of eOne Music Nashville.  Michael Olsen is based in Nashville and reports to Michael Koch, CEO of Entertainment One Music. Olsen has more than 25 years experience in the indie record business.  He has been President/ CEO of Sheridan Square Entertainment whose labels included V2, Artemis, Light Records, Vanguard Classics and Musicrama, Compendia Music Group, and Campus Vibe. Previously he was Executive VP for Business Affairs of Platinum Entertainment and VP/General Counsel of Intersound in Atlanta.  Mike is also an entertainment lawyer and prior to working in the indie record industry served as VP/General Manager of the Denver Symphony Orchestra.
In addition, the following executive appointments have been made, all of whom report to Olsen and are based in Nashville:
James Robinson has been appointed Senior Vice President and General Manager of Light Records. James has spent the last 24 years working in Gospel and Christian music.  He has been the VP of A&R for Light Records for the last 5 years.  He is also a co-founder of Gospelflava.com, the leading news and information website in the Gospel industry. Prior to joining Light, James founded Evidence Records where he signed Youthful Praise.
Bob Morrison has been appointed Vice President of eOne Christian Music. Bob has been involved in the business of music for over 30 years, and most recently was SVP of Sales & Operations for Midas Records. While with Midas he grew the label’s Christian Division to national prominence with both Jessie Daniels and Rush of Fools. Previously, Morrison was head of sales at emerging internet label J-Bird Records.
Van Fletcher has been appointed Vice President of eOne Americana and Country Music. Most recently, Fletcher was SVP of Sales and Operations at Universal Records Nashville.  He also held positions as Senior VP/GM of Universal South Records, and Executive Vice President/GM of EMI Christian Music Group, among others.
Mick Lloyd has been appointed Vice President of eOne Music Licensing.  As a label executive, he was formerly President of Advantage/Polygram Records, Vice President of Little Giant Records, and Vice President of Indieblu Music.  In his current position with eOne he has placed company music in major films, TV shows, and commercials, such as Ford, the Red Cross, “American  Idol,” “So You Think You Can Dance,”  An Education,” “House,” “Free Willy 3,” and “Californication.” Lloyd maintains high visibility in Nashville as a successful record producer, songwriter, publisher and label executive.  He has produced such major label artists as Johnny Lee, Reigning Mercy, Slim Whitman, Ride The River, and Lew DeWitt.

About Entertainment One:

Entertainment One (LSE:ETO) is a leading international entertainment company that specializes in the acquisition, production and distribution of film and television content.  The company’s comprehensive network extends around the globe including Canada, the U.S., the UK, Ireland, Benelux, France, Germany, Scandinavia, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.  Through established Entertainment and Distribution divisions, the company provides extensive expertise in film distribution, television and music production, kids programming and merchandising and licensing. Its current rights library is exploited across all media formats and includes more than 20,000 film and television titles, 2,400 hours of television programming and 45,000 music tracks.
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