Tracy Lawrence, with Bourbon Lakes
WHERE: JD Legends, 65 Millard Dr., Franklin
WHEN: 7 p.m. Saturday, June 11
COST: $18.50
MORE INFO: (937) 746-4950 or www.jdlegends.com
ARTIST INFO: www.tracylawrence
Country superstar Tracy Lawrence, who performs at JD Legends in Franklin on Saturday was part of the major label system from 1991 until 2005.
He enjoyed his time with companies like Atlantic Records and Mercury Nashville, but like many of his contemporaries he’s discovered life as an independent artist can be just as lucrative for established acts. That, in part, was his impetus for starting Lawrence Music Group (LMG) earlier this year.
“Since I’m packaging my own stuff and doing what I do, if I can sell 20-, 30-, 40,000 albums it’s comparable to selling a gold record,” he said last week, referring to the industry certification for 500,000 units sold. “From a financial standpoint it’s pretty amazing. I feel like I’m in a good spot right now.”
“The Singer,” Lawrence’s new album, was released this week by LMG.
“It’s pretty much all acoustic-based,” he said. “I cut 10 new songs and did acoustic remakes of ‘Find Out Who Your Friends Are’ and ‘Paint Me a Birmingham.’ Everything else is new. I wrote six of the tracks on the album. I signed two writers to my publishing company this year and we’re really building our catalog. Everything on ‘The Singer,’ either I wrote or it came from within from my songwriters so I’m pretty excited about it.
“We’re going to be working the first single to secondary radio and syndicated radio,” Lawrence continued. “We’ll be streaming things over the Internet and really doing a lot of marketing through social media and stuff. It’s just so expensive to compete with the big labels so I’m really curious to see how that tactic works without going to mainstream radio.”
LMG is focused on releasing his new product, but the company offers others services such as management and publishing for other acts. Lawrence and his wife, who does custom embroidery for cheerleading squads and dance teams, also recently purchased a dance apparel retail store in Nashville. Given the state of the recording industry, Lawrence realizes the importance of diversifying and retaining control of his businesses.
“With the economy the way it is and the downturn in the music, it’s about creating other revenue streams and being able to dabble in several different things,” he said. “I look at it the same way you play the stock market — you don’t put everything in one stock, you’ve got to spread it around for your own security. That’s kind of the way we’re looking at our lives right now.”
Contact contributing arts and music writer Don Thrasher at donaldthrasher8@aol.com.
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