Capitol CMG Publishing Celebrates First No. 1 Pop Hit With Nashville Party

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Pictured (L-R): Peter York, Jimi Williams, Josh Kotras, Tommee Profitt, Karrie Dawley, Brad O’Donnell, Lindsey O’Halloran. Photo: Jordan Merrigan

ASCAP songwriter Tommee Profitt, and Brentwood, Tennessee-based Capitol CMG Publishing recently celebrated their first No. 1 pop hit, for rapper NF’s “Let You Down.”

Co-written by Profitt and Nate Feuerstein (NF),”Let You Down” topped both the Billboard Mainstream Top 40 and Hot Christian Songs charts, and has moved 5.8 million tracks worldwide. “Let You Down” has been certified platinum in 16 countries, and earned Top 10 status at radio in more than 10 countries.

Capitol CMG Publishing and ASCAP celebrated the achievement with a festive afternoon, complete with customized No. 1 balloons, at ASCAP’s Nashville office on Thursday, April 12.

“Humbled beyond words,” said Profitt. “A top 40 No. 1 is never something that was even on my radar. I feel so grateful for the opportunity to make music with one of my best friends. NF is one of the most talented artists I know, and it’s been a honor to be a part of his journey since the beginning. So thankful for my entire team at Capitol CMG Publishing and Universal Music Publishing Group, this entire experience has been a dream.”

Tommee Profitt. Photo: Jordan Merrigan

Profitt also produced NF’s latest chart-topping album, Perception, which was recently certified Gold by the RIAA. Their longstanding musical collaboration traces back to their shared Michigan roots. Profitt has also worked with artists including Ruby Amanfu, Colton Dixon, and Nichole Nordeman, and has had work featured in television shows including Empire, Seal Team, Prison Break, and movies including The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2.

 

“We could not be more thrilled to have our first ever pop No. 1 song as a publisher with Tommee,” shares Capitol CMG Chief Creative Officer Brad O’Donnell. “Tommee is an incredibly gifted writer and producer and we love our partnership with him. He cares deeply about artists and songs and has a unique ability to connect with artists to create their best work. We believe this is only the first of many No. 1’s for him!”

“ASCAP is thrilled to congratulate Tommee and the entire Capitol CMG Team on the enormous, multi-genre impact of this song, and the incredible global reach that it continues to have,” said ASCAP VP, Membership Michael Martin.

Pictured (L-R): ASCAP’s Michael Martin, Tommee Profitt, Kele Currier.
Photo: Jordan Merrigan

Shane McAnally Hosting New Show on SiriusXM

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Shane McAnally is hosting an exclusive new series, Songville, on SiriusXM where he will discuss songwriting with artist friends and collaborators. Songville’s premiere episode will feature Kacey Musgraves talking with McAnally about writing the hit song “Mama’s Broken Heart” for Miranda Lambert. Other installments in the monthly series will feature Kelly Clarkson and Florida Georgia Line.

“Getting to sit down and have open conversation with artists, who are collaborators and friends, and break open the songwriting process inspires me and makes me even more proud to be a part of the songwriting community,” said McAnally. “With SiriusXM’s Songville, we hope to share some of this love and pride with our fans.”

Songville will debut on April 18 at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT on SiriusXM’s Volume channel 106, home of talk-radio that is all about the world of music and its fans. The program will then repeat several times throughout the month of April and will be available to subscribers on demand.

McAnally is a multiple CMA, ACM and GRAMMY Award-winning singer, songwriter and producer for mega-artists such as Kelly Clarkson, Luke Bryan, Reba McEntire, Lady Antebellum, Keith Urban and Kenny Chesney. He has written and/or produced more than 36 No. 1 songs including Sam Hunt’s 4x platinum hit “Body Like a Back Road,” which broke the record for the longest reigning No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. He is nominated for five Academy of Country Music Awards, when the show airs April 15.

Michael Ray Introduces Fans To ‘Amos’ This June

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Michael Ray is following up his successful self-titled debut album with a new project due out June 1 on Atlantic Records/ Warner Music Nashville. Named for his late grandfather, Amos, the project is said to be Ray’s most personal to date.

Amos was a huge influence on his grandson, inspiring his love of country music. Ray, a Florida native, began singing and performing in his grandfather’s band when he was only nine years old. To this day he still plays Amos’ 1978 Les Paul.

Amos features 11 tracks including Ray’s current top 20 and climbing single, “Get To You.” Album track listing and cover image will released on April 20, when digital pre-orders open.

Ray burst onto the scene with the RIAA Gold-certified No. 1 hits, “Kiss You in the Morning” and “Think A Little Less.”

Lainey Wilson Releases Self-Titled EP Today

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Rising country music artist and Sony/ATV songwriter Lainey Wilson is releasing her self-titled EP, available via digital retailers and streaming services today, April 13. Wilson co-wrote all six songs on the project, which includes new single “Workin’ Overtime.” The EP was produced by Aslan Freeman.

Wilson will perform her new music during her opening set for fellow country artist CJ Solar next Wednesday, April 18 at The Basement East in Nashville, and also at the Third Street Songwriters Festival in Baton Rouge, La. from April 20-22.

The Louisiana native is signed to WME and has landed cuts by Luke Combs and Kasey Tyndall.

“As a songwriter in Nashville, you tend to wear a lot of different hats, but I’ve learned over the years that the more honest I am, the more people react to my songs,” says Wilson. “Whether I’m writing about something I’ve experienced firsthand or something I’ve learned through the experiences of others, people want to hear the truth. They want to know they’re not alone, whatever they might be going through, and I hope when they hear my songs; they know I’ve been there too.”

Lainey Wilson Track listing:
1. “Workin’ Overtime” (Lainey Wilson, Rob Crosby)
2. “Dreamcatcher” (Lainey Wilson, Kalsey Kulyk)
3. “Waste of Good Whiskey” (Lainey Wilson, Ethan Baumgarner, Alex DaCosta)
4. “Breakin’ Your Heart” (Lainey Wilson, Kasey Tyndall, Katie Austin)
5. “Microphone” (Lainey Wilson, Ross Ellis, Aslan Freeman)
6. “Middle Finger” (Lainey Wilson, Trannie Stevens, Faren Rachels)

Music Audience Exchange Reveals Tool To Match Artists, Brands

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Music Audience Exchange (MAX) has revealed its MAX Artist Matching Engine, which is powered by a data model using neural networks to map music tastes onto the demographic, psychographic, geographic, and behavioral attributes of music audiences. The system combines a genre taxonomy with analysis of streaming, social media and live show data to gain insight into the fan bases of over 1.8 million artists worldwide.

“Today’s marketers not only have to understand their target audiences, but they need to be able to reach them in a personal way. The MAX Artist Matching Engine™ has analyzed and segmented one of the most data-rich cultural identifiers available – music preferences – enabling brands to better understand their target audiences, then reach them through experiences that are welcomed instead of interruptive,” said MAX VP of Product Jeff Rosenfeld. “Artists benefit from insights about their fans as well as access to brands who can provide them with promotional opportunities to help build their careers.”

One of the first brands to use the platform, Ford has a number of dealer groups across the country currently reaching passionate communities of Brantley Gilbert fans around the U.S.

Using proprietary data science that maps specific audience tastes to a database of over 900 genres and 1.8 million artists, the MAX Platform™ is constantly updating to help brands pinpoint and better understand correlations between artists and their fans. From there, MAX builds programs that promote audio, video, social, and live music experiences to fans across all of the places they’re connecting with music on a daily basis.

Other brands that have used Music Audience Exchange include McDonalds, AutoZone, CoorsLight, and more.

Sugarland Reveals Album Track List, Taylor Swift Collaboration

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Sugarland’s highly anticipated sixth studio album, titled Bigger, will be released on June 8. After taking a hiatus to pursue a series of solo projects, Bigger is the duo’s first new music in seven years and the first project under their new joint venture with Big Machine Records and UMG Nashville.

Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush co-wrote nearly all of the songs on the album, which they co-produced with Julian Raymond. The only “outside” cut on the project is “Babe (featuring Taylor Swift),” written by Swift and Pat Monahan of Train.

“Our hopefulness and our sparkiness and our joy is one of the things I think we do uniquely well, especially in the country format,” says Nettles of the new music. “We offer that in a unique way.”

“This album has a whole bunch of mystery,” adds Bush. “I’m listening to it every two days just to see what’s in it. I have entire pints of blood in that thing, but I still don’t know where it all came from, and I love that.”

The project’s lead single, “Still The Same,” is climbing the country radio charts ahead of the duo’s Still The Same 2018 Tour, which visits Nashville Aug. 2.

The album will be available to pre-order at digital retailers and the title track, “Bigger,” will be available to download on April 13.

The duo will give fans a taste of the new material when they appear on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! May 2.

Since the band’s inception in 2002, Sugarland has sold nearly 10 million albums domestically, and earned seven No. 1 singles.

Bigger Track List
1. “Bigger” | Kristian Bush, Jennifer Nettles
2. “On A Roll” | Kristian Bush, Jennifer Nettles
3. “Let Me Remind You” | Kristian Bush, Jennifer Nettles
4. “Mother” | Kristian Bush, Jennifer Nettles
5. “Still The Same” | Kristian Bush, Jennifer Nettles
6. “Lean It On Back” | Kristian Bush, Jennifer Nettles
7. “Babe (featuring Taylor Swift)” | Taylor Swift, Pat Monahan
8. “Bird In A Cage” | Kristian Bush, Jennifer Nettles
9. “Love Me Like I’m Leaving” | Kristian Bush, Jennifer Nettles, Tim Owens
10. “Tuesday’s Broken” | Kristian Bush, Jennifer Nettles
11. “Not The Only” | Kristian Bush, Jennifer Nettles

MTSU Plans Fundraiser To Preserve Work of Late Music Photographer Alan Mayor

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Alan Mayor and Garth Brooks

Middle Tennessee State University’s Center for Popular Music will hold a fundraiser for the preservation of the Alan Mayor Photography Collection on Wednesday, May 2 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Country Music Association in Nashville. The evening will feature a cocktail reception and a silent auction of beautifully framed prints of Mayor’s work, including some unpublished gems.

The Center for Popular Music acquired the Alan Mayor Photography Collection in late 2017. Mayor, a beloved photographer who passed away in 2015, documented more than four decades of Nashville’s musical life: the Opry, Fan Fair (now CMA Fest), music industry events, local shows, tours, and a treasure trove of behind-the-scenes photos of country’s biggest stars.

While the University employs two certified archivists who will manage this project, the Center needs to raise $50,000 to purchase materials to preserve the tens of thousands of photographs, negatives and slides. Once the project is completed, Mayor’s photos will be available to the public for reference and, pending his family’s permission, inclusion in publications and other media.

Those interested in attending the event or financially contributing to this project should contact Abby White ([email protected] or 615-898-5756). Anyone interested in making a tax-deductible donation may donate online.

Paradigm Nashville Promotes Three To Agent Roles

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Paradigm Nashville has promoted three staffers to agent roles, as part of the company-wide promotion of eight total staffers to agent across multiple offices.

In Nashville, Kylie Doyle, Zach Hartley and Jeremy Shpizner have all been promoted to agent.

Doyle joined Paradigm in 2014 as an assistant and became booking coordinator for Andrea Ambrosia and Clint Wiley in the Concerts Division two years later. She has worked with artists including Margo Price, The Lone Bellow, Lee Ann Womack, Marty Stuart and The Mavericks. She is now a territorial agent in the Concerts Division, handling venues in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic with capacity of 1,000 and under.

Hartley joined Paradigm’s Nashville office in 2014 as an assistant, then moved into the Festivals department in 2016. He now joins the growing agent team there alongside Keith Shackleford, Keith Richards and Alex Buck. He is responsible agent for Grand Funk Railroad, and has also worked closely with JOHNNYSWIM.

Shpizner joined Paradigm in 2014 as assistant to Jeffrey Hasson, and became booking coordinator for Jonathan Levine in 2016. He is now on the agent team for artists Colter Wall, Tyler Childers, Blackfoot Gypsies and Priscilla Renea, along with recent signings AHI, Ian Noe, Ian Ferguson and Midnight North.

These promotions follow the recent news that Lenore Kinder has joined Paradigm’s Nashville office as an agent. She was previously a promoter with AEG Presents for 10 years, earning the Rising Star at this year’s Pollstar Awards and Promoter of the Year at last year’s ACM Awards.

Columbia Nashville Signs Tenille Townes

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Sony Music Nashville announces the signing of emerging singer-songwriter Tenille Townes to the Columbia Nashville imprint.

Today the label is releasing her EP Living Room Worktapes, produced by co-writer Daniel Tashian (Kacey Musgraves’s Golden Hour). Listen here and watch the first installment of “Tenille Townes: My Story” on VEVO.

Townes is also signed to Big Yellow Dog Music and is currently writing and recording her debut LP with producer Jay Joyce.

The singer recently made her Sundance Film Festival and SXSW debuts. She will join Devin Dawson, Maren Morris and Steve Moakler for select tour dates this spring, and has been tapped by Miranda Lambert and Little Big Town for their co-headlining The Bandwagon Tour launching July 2018.

Townes began singing at age 5 in her rural Canadian hometown, Grande Prairie, Alberta, and penned her first song by age 14. She moved to Nashville in 2013 to pursue her music career.

Living Room Worktapes Track Listing:
1. Where You Are
Tenille Townes/Daniel Tashian/Keelan Donovan

2. Jersey on the Wall
Tenille Townes/Tina Parol/Gordie Sampson

3. Somebody’s Daughter
Tenille Townes/Luke Laird/Barry Dean

4. White Horse
Tenille Townes/Jeremy Spillman/Daniel Tashian

Weekly Chart Post 4/13/18

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