Country star Ronnie Dunn beats fear of flying solo (Reuters)

DETROIT (Billboard) – Despite a superstar foundation from his 20 years in the country duo Brooks & Dunn, Ronnie Dunn says that he went into his new solo career "scared to death."

Dunn, 58, released his self-titled debut album on Tuesday, on the heels of the top-10 success of its first single "Bleed Red."

"I think fear and insecurity are great motivators," Dunn told Billboard.com. "I worked overtime -- not that I have to -- to stay neurotic. I never take anything for granted. I look at my age. I look at the length of time that we were in the marketplace with Brooks & Dunn, and I don't know how people are going to accept me and I don't assume in any way they're gonna come running to this project."

Dunn and Kix Brooks announced their break-up plans in 2009, and performed their final concert a year later in September 2010, capping a career that yielded 23 No. 1 country hits and album sales of more than 30 million copies. The duo said at the time that it was "just time," and denied any bad blood.

Dunn recorded 34 songs for "Ronnie Dunn," writing or co-writing nine of the album's 12 tracks. He also produced the album and played most of the guitar solos, and he says that, neuroses aside, he genuinely enjoyed being the captain rather than a collaborator this time out.

"I'm comfortable in the studio -- probably more comfortable there than anywhere else," he said. "I was just like a kid in a candy store and didn't have to work through the committee and the natural process of working with a group or someone else -- including another producer. That was fun."

Some of the songs date back a ways. The socially conscious "Cost of Livin'," the album's second single, first came to him in 2008, when Dunn re-wrote Phillip Coleman's original chorus and hook. "I Can't Help Myself," meanwhile, was pitched for several Brooks & Dunn albums but never made the final cut.

Dunn has been enjoying touring on his own, downsizing from basketball arenas to casinos seating upwards of 2,500 people.

"And they're a blast," Dunn said. "I can stop, talk to the crowd, tell 'em stories. That was obviously not my role (in Brooks & Dunn); both of us couldn't get up there and tell stories between every songs, and Kix by nature fell into that position. So it's fun and challenging to assume that role. So far it's the most fun I've ever had."

Yahoo! News

Warner Music beats estimates on digital sales (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Warner Music Group, which is being bought by billionaire Len Blavatnik's Access Industries, reported a narrower-than-expected quarterly loss, helped by a 9 percent jump in digital revenue.

The growth in digital revenue primarily reflected strength in digital downloads and streaming, but mobile revenue continued to decline, the company said in a statement.

Its fiscal second-quarter net loss was 25 cents a share, while analysts had on average expected a loss of 28 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose 2.4 percent to $682 million ahead of average forecasts of $598.4 million. Digital revenue grew to $220 million.

Top music sellers in the quarter included artists Bruno Mars, R.E.M and Wiz Khalifa.

Music publishing revenue at its Warner/Chappell unit rose 2.2 percent to $137 million, mostly driven by U.S. sales.

Last week, Blavatnik bid $3.3 billion, or $8.25 a share, for the world's third-largest music company, adding another media company to his empire that already has Russia's Admedia and Britain's Top Up TV -- a digital TV station -- as well as natural resources businesses.

According to regulatory filings, the merger agreement has a $56 million break-up fee in place to be paid by the music company if it pulls out of the Blavatnik deal. The clause makes it likely any other bidder would need to pay close to $9.00 a share to pay a premium over the break-up fee.

Warner Music's management, led by Chief Executive Edgar Bronfman, hope that by taking the business private it can take bigger strategic gambles to cope with ongoing declines in the music industry. The music business is still struggling with a decade-long transition from physical formats like the CD to digital distribution through services like Apple Inc's iTunes.

The merger deal is set to close in the third quarter and it is widely expected that Bronfman and Blavatnik, who is a long-time associate, will turn their attention to rival music company EMI Group as a possible buyout target. It is thought that combining Warner Music with EMI could generate hundreds of millions of dollars in cost savings.

EMI is currently owned by Citigroup, which took control of the music company earlier this year when its private equity owner Terra Firma defaulted on loans.

New York-based Warner Music's shares added about 2 cents to $8.21 in morning New York Stock Exchange trading.

(Reporting by Yinka Adegoke and Sayantani Ghosh in Bangalore; Editing by Maureen Bavdek)

Yahoo! News

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.