Industry Ink Thursday

Country Radio Seminar Executive Director Bill Mayne spoke to SOLID members at the organization’s recent General Assembly Meeting, offering this advice to the young leaders, “You have the opportunity to challenge the rules and make your own success.” (L-R): SOLID Pres. Jon Romero, Bill Mayne, SOLID Communications co-chair Michelle Tigard Kammerer

• Lindsay Bertelli’s REACH, LLC, an entertainment experiential marketing agency based in Nashville, has added client Boots and Hearts Music Festival in Toronto, ON. REACH’s Amy Bryan, Director of the Talent Buying Division, secured 2012 festival headliners Tim McGraw, Kid Rock, Carrie Underwood and Alabama. Other REACH clients include Calgary Stampede, CMT On Tour, Toyota and Country Music Association. Contact REACH at (615) 340-5390 or www.reachnash.com.

• Members of the U.S. Copyright Office will hold a day-long discussion April 26 at Nashville’s First Amendment Center. Topics will include a review of the year in copyright law and rule-making, including the legislative activity of the 112th Congress and the major copyright decisions of 2011, as well as an update on the procedures for copyright registration. Among the panelists/moderators are Ken Paulson, President and CEO, First Amendment Center; and Jay Frank, CEO, DigSin. Details at www.firstamendmentcenter.org.

• Ditto Music, a digital marketing and distribution company, has opened offices at 33 Music Sq. W. Lee Parsons is CEO of the outfit which recently debuted a Facebook application that enables musicians to submit songs to Spotify for free. If the artist submits the track to Ditto then shares the app with three Facebook friends, Ditto will register the track with Spotify for free. Among the established artists who have used the service are Paul McCartney and Prince. Contact Parsons at [email protected] or www.dittomusic.com.

• Pam Lewis’ PLA Media has added rock troubadour Jefferson Grizzard as a client.

• SESAC and the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) have combined forces to offer a discounted SESAC blanket license fee to all SCAA members. Details at www.scaa.org.

BMI invited current and former members of its Catalog Cast to a reunion on April 3 at its office on Music Row. Each year, BMI partners with the Belmont University Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business to give hand-picked students real-world experience by helping them compile a CD containing catalog songs that they then distribute to Music Row producers, A&R staffs, and artist managers. Pictured are Andrew Cohen of Young Entertainment Professionals, singer/songwriter Cheryl LuQuire, Creative Nation’s Beth Laird, and BMI’s Leslie Roberts and Julie Stuckey. Photo by Drew Maynard