Round Hill Music, Big Yellow Dog Music Enter Deal For Josh Kear Back Catalog

Pictured (L-R, Front Row): Josh Gruss – RHM CEO; Josh Kear; Carla Wallace – Co-owner, Big Yellow Dog. Pictured (L-R, Back Row): Neil Gillis – RHM President; Kerry O’Neil – Co-owner, Big Yellow Dog; Mark Brown – RHM VP/ GM Nashville; Josh Saxe – RHM Associate Director, Creative.

Round Hill Music has inked a deal covering Josh Kear and Big Yellow Dog Music’s interests in all Kear-penned songs through 2014, including the hits “Need You Now,” “Before He Cheats,” “Highway Don’t Care,” and “Drunk On A Plane.”

Big Yellow Dog and Round Hill Music will jointly exploit Kear’s catalog. Kear is signed to Big Yellow Dog Music for future writing services.

​”It is a rare opportunity to acquire such a high quality body of work as the Josh Kear catalog,” says Mark Brown, VP and GM of Round Hill Music, Nashville. “There are so many huge hits and many other great songs waiting to be exploited. We are extremely excited to have this catalog under our Round Hill umbrella.”

“We have known the Nashville and New York executives of RH for a very long time. They exemplify quality and professionalism. We are pleased to be able to work with them on this wonderful catalog of songs that they are now the passionate stewards of,” Big Yellow Dog Music co-owners Carla Wallace and Kerry O’Neil said.

Kear has been with independent publisher Big Yellow Dog Music for nearly 13 years. Other hit songs Kear has co-written include “Neon Light” (Blake Shelton), “Blown Away” and “Two Black Cadillacs” (Carrie Underwood), “Helluva Life,” (Frankie Ballard), and “Drunk On You” (Luke Bryan). “Need You Now” earned Grammy honors for both Country Song of the Year and the overall Song of the Year in 2011. “Before He Cheats” and “Blown Away” each earned Grammy Awards for Country Song of the Year.

Since 2007 Kear has received 13 ASCAP country airplay awards, two ASCAP pop airplay awards, and three ASCAP Country Song of the Year awards for “Before He Cheats,” “Need You Now” and “Drunk On You.” In 2013 he also took home the coveted award for Country Songwriter of the Year.