Def Jam Recordings CEO Paul Rosenberg Named Keynote Speaker For Music Biz 2019

/by

Paul Rosenberg

Paul Rosenberg, CEO of Def Jam Recordings, is confirmed as a keynote speaker for the upcoming conference Music Biz 2019, slated for May 5-8 at Nashville’s JW Marriott.

On May 6 at 5 p.m., Rosenberg will discuss his professional journey, experience in both the management and label arenas and his vision for the future of the industry at large.

An accomplished attorney, Rosenberg is also the founder and CEO of Goliath Artists Inc., the New York-based management firm that handles the career of artist Eminem and others including Detroit’s Danny Brown. Paul also continues to oversee Shady Records, the boutique record label he launched in 1999 with Eminem that has released breakthrough albums by 50 Cent, D12 and Bad Meets Evil (Eminem’s collaboration with Royce Da 5’9”).

In 2002, Rosenberg added the role of producer to his resume as executive producer of the blockbuster Imagine/Universal film 8 Mile, followed by serving as producer with Jimmy Iovine on 50 Cent’s 2005 film debut Get Rich Or Die Tryin’, and as producer of 2015’s pugilist hit Southpaw. Rosenberg also oversees a portfolio of creative projects and endeavors in his ongoing partnership with Eminem: Shady Films, an original content creation group that has produced web series, television and broadcast live events, SiriusXM satellite radio station Shade45, and RapRadar.com.

For more information, visit musicbiz2019.com.

 

Kane Brown Launches Sold-Out Arena Tour, Reveals Khalid Remix Feature

/by

Kane Brown kicked off his sold-out headlining arena tour Kane Brown: Live Forever Tour Thursday night (Jan. 10) in Duluth, Georgia, with 7,000 fans. The Kane Brown: Live Forever Tour will make its way to arenas across the country with additional opening weekend stops Friday night (Jan. 11) in Pensacola, Florida, and Saturday night (Jan. 12) in Columbus, Georgia featuring openers Granger Smith with RaeLynn.

As part of the tour, Brown has partnered with the Boys & Girls Club to offer an exclusive VIP Q&A experience and meet and greet pairing Brown with members of the Boys & Girls Club in every tour market.

Following the tour’s opening weekend, Brown heads to New York to perform on Good Morning America, GMA Day and The Late Show With Stephen Colbert next week. He is featured on a new Khalid “Saturday Nights (Remix)” out today as well. The track is a remix of Khalid’s song “Saturday Nights” which was featured on his recently released EP Suncity.

(L-R): Members of the Boys & Girls Club with Kane Brown, Martha Earls of EFG Management, and Pete Wison of Good Vibes Management

Dylan Scott Announces New EP, ‘Nothing To Do Town’

/by

Curb Records artist Dylan Scott will be releasing his new EP, Nothing To Do Town, on April 26. The title track will be released to radio Monday (Jan. 14).

Inspired by family and his youth in rural northeast Louisiana, Nothing To Do Town features six tracks–five of which were co-written by the rising star himself. Produced by Matt Alderman, Curt Gibbs, and Jim Ed Norman, the project follows the success of Scott’s Platinum and Gold-certified breakouts, “My Girl” and “Hooked.”

 

Scott will also headline the Nothing To Do Town Tour, launching Thursday (Jan. 17), featuring 19 dates with newcomer Seth Ennis.

“The past two years–both personally and professionally–have been the most exciting of my life,” said Scott. “With my new single hitting radio on Monday and my tour kicking off in New York City three days later, 2019 is starting off in a whirlwind and I couldn’t be more excited. I can’t wait to get back out on the road and play new music. Looks like it’s going to be a busy year!”

The recently announced iHeart Radio Best New Country Artist nominee is set to highlight the New Faces Showcase lineup at the 2019 Country Radio Seminar in Nashville on Feb. 15.

Pre-orders for the project start today (1/11).

Nothing To Do Town EP Track Listing:
1. “Nothing To Do Town” – Dylan Scott, Matt Alderman, Cole Taylor
2. “Look At Us Now” – Scott, Alderman, Dallas Wilson
3. “Nobody” – Scott, Alderman, Dallas Wilson
4. “You Got Me” – Justin Wilson, Jason Sever, Kyle Fishman
5. “Honey I’m Home” – Scott, Alderman, Lindsay Rimes
6. “Anniversary” – Scott, Alderman, Corey Crowder

New Report Illustrates How Record Labels Evolved Towards Streaming

/by

Larry Miller, founder of music industry consulting and analytics firm Musonomics and NYU professor/director of the music business program at NYU Steinhardt, has released a report on the evolution of record labels in his new report, “Same Heart. New Beat. How Record Labels Amplify Talent in the Modern Music Marketplace.”

Based on almost 50 interviews with top-level executives at both major and independent record labels and commissioned by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), Miller explores the changes that have taken place in the past decade with record labels in the digital age.

“The digital revolution in music meant that anyone with a creative spark and a computer could make and distribute a song. While terrifically empowering, this led to an avalanche of new music dumped online every week – paradoxically making it harder for musicians to connect with audiences,” said Miller. “As the former head of an indie with major label distribution in the early ’00s, I was curious to examine the current state of play. While there are examples of individual, DIY artist success, the realities of the 24/7 global marketplace demand specialized teams with the ability and resources to react instantly to opportunities wherever and whenever they pop up – and the labels have evolved to meet this need.”

The report examines the “Then” vs “Now” of A&R, Marketing & Promotion, Artist Contracts & Services, Sales & Distribution, and Data. Some of the key findings include:

  • Record labels have evolved to become music-based entertainment companies, focused on engaging fans with a continuous stream of social, “snackable” music-based content
  • The promotion of a single song now requires the resources that used to be allocated for an entire album
  • Data is critical in every aspect of operations – but only provides insight when coupled with the instinct derived from working on a deep roster of artists and genres across territories – to separate data signals from noise and form the right strategy for an individual artist or release
  • No longer constrained by limited physical retail shelf space, the opportunity for legacy artists has exploded as labels now maximize catalog in ways that go far beyond the occasional reissue

To download the full report, visit musonomics.org/modernlabelreport.

Judah & The Lion Drops New Single, ‘Over My Head’

/by

Nashville-based band and Belmont alums Judah & the Lion are kicking off the New Year with the release of their new single, “Over My Head.” The synth-and-banjo driven track comes on the heels of “Pep Talk” and “Quarter-Life Crisis,” a multi-track single released in December and the band’s first new music since their sophomore album, Folk Hop N Roll.

“Over My Head” is a deeply personal look into vocalist Judah Akers’ mindset during a time that was both professionally exciting and personally turbulent.

“I was on the road and homesick,” recalls Judah Akers. “So that feeling’s rushing in, mom’s not doing well, not talking to dad, my sister’s sad. All these thoughts were happening and I was so overwhelmed with life. I was medicating and distracting myself in different ways so I could get through.”

Judah & the Lion (Judah Akers, Nate Zuercher, Brian Macdonald) began 2019 in front of a crowd of 200,000 at Nashville’s New Year’s Eve celebration where they debuted the songs live and again performed “Over My Head” the next day at NHL’s Winter Classic at Notre Dame Stadium on NBC. Already announced for this year’s Hangout Music Festival in May, fans can expect more on the horizon live from the trio soon.

Kobalt’s AWAL Teams With The Other Nashville Society

/by

Kobalt’s recordings company AWAL has engaged in a year-long partnership with Nashville-based, non-country music industry organization The Other Nashville Society (TONS).The partnership will create various events and programs to help Nashville creators connect and advance their careers.

TONS, which launched in 2017, hand-selects its group members, which include numerous influential industry members and creators.

AWAL Lonny Olinick commented, “Nashville is one of the most diverse and vibrant music communities out there and we see this partnership as an opportunity for AWAL to discover, develop, and launch global artists. AWAL and TONS are aligned in our ultimate goal of bringing artists together and helping them grow their careers. We look forward to all that we will accomplish together this year.”

Josh Collum, Co-founder & Partner of TONS added, “This is more than just a sponsorship for us. This is a deep, strategic partnership. We believe in what AWAL is doing, and we feel like our membership and our city needs to get to know them better. We’re already working on some really cool things we can do together, and you’ll see those roll out throughout 2019.”

Opry NextStage Launches Kickoff Event With Riley Green, Tegan Marie, Tenille Townes, Travis Denning

/by

Pictured (L-R): Riley Green, Tegan Marie, Opry Entertainment’s Sally Williams, Tenille Townes and Travis Denning.

Opry Entertainment’s Opry NextStage, a yearlong collaboration with rising country artists Riley Green, Tegan Marie, Tenille Townes and Travis Denning, launched Tuesday night (Jan. 8) with a kickoff party and sold-out concert at Ole Red Nashville.

“This is an exciting night and we are thrilled to welcome these four rising stars in country music,” said Sally Williams,  General Manager, Grand Ole Opry / Sr. Vice President, Programming & Artist Relations, Opry Entertainment. “The Opry is 93 years old and it is all of our responsibility to make sure it is still amazing for the next 93 years. You all are going to be part of that!”

“I’m honored to have the Opry team put their hands around my career,” said Green. “Some of my all-time favorite country music memories are watching past Opry moments and performances and now I get to be a part of that.”

“I learn something new every time I perform there and love doing things the audience doesn’t expect,” said Tegan. “I can’t wait to see what’s ahead.”

Throughout the year, Opry Entertainment will work closely with this inaugural class and its artist teams to amplify their initiatives using assets from across the company’s brands, venues and channels. Opportunities for the Opry NextStage artists include performances on the Grand Ole Opry at the Opry House and Ryman Auditorium, performances at Ole Red locations, appearances in a short form documentary video series produced by Opry Entertainment’s content team, customized digital activations utilizing Opry social assets including Opry.com, OleRed.com, WSMOnline.com, and other opportunities including outdoor advertising, special event performances, 650 WSM-AM /wsmonline.com podcasts and radio specials.

“It means so much to have the Opry family support me,” remarked Tenille. “I came to Nashville as a tourist and fan many years ago before my career began and we visited the Opry. I sat with my family in the Opry pews and I dreamed of getting to do this someday.”

“I look forward to creating moments each and every time I play the Opry,” said Denning. “I want to learn all the stories and soak up the Opry history.”

Weekly Chart Report (1/11/19)

/by

Click here or above to access MusicRow’s weekly CountryBreakout Report.

Entertainment Law Firm Leavens, Strand & Glover Merges With Mandell Menkes

/by

Entertainment law firm Leavens, Strand & Glover has merged with Chicago-based Mandell Menkes, as of Jan. 1.

The combination expands Mandell Menkes’ media and entertainment practice, giving its large media, advertising and entertainment clients access to the deep experience of Tom Leavens, Peter Strand and their team. Leavens, Strand & Glover’s media and entertainment industry clients will be able to draw on Mandell Menkes’ highly-regarded litigators, corporate, commercial transactional and intellectual property attorneys.

The firm will continue to be known as Mandell Menkes and will boast 18 attorneys in Chicago, Nashville, Tennessee and Grand Rapids, Michigan. Leavens, Strand and Linda Mensch join in Chicago, while Hillel Frankel represents the firm’s Tennessee office and Joe Voss joins in Michigan. Leavens, Strand & Glover founding partner Jerry Glover retired from the firm in 2017.

The Nashville office is located at 1102 17th Ave. S., Ste. 306.

“We have long admired Tom, Peter and their colleagues for the tremendous reputation they have built in the entertainment, film, and music law arenas – in both their client work and their deep commitment to pro bono representation of emerging artists,” said Steve Mandell. “Their depth of experience in media, entertainment and the arts is the perfect complement to our media and entertainment practice, and we look forward to offering a broader range of services to our combined client base.”

“From our first conversations, we knew this was an unparalleled pairing of practices that would provide enormous benefits to our nationwide client base,” said Leavens. “We are thrilled to be joining forces with Steve, Bruce Menkes and the other highly-regarded attorneys at Mandell Menkes to create a premier firm focused on helping clients grow and protect their assets.”

Former Academy Of Country Music Exec Tiffany Moon Joins VUMC

/by

Tiffany Moon

Tiffany Moon has been named Director in The Office of Engagement at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. In this position, Moon will report directly to Stuart Dill, Senior Vice President of the Office of Engagement at VUMC, and will specifically work on special projects and events to engage celebrities and high-profile entertainment personalities (music, sports, film and television) in programs that elevate the Vanderbilt Health brand and cultivate philanthropy.

Prior to joining Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Moon served as EVP, Managing Director of the Academy of Country Music in Los Angeles for 16 years.

Moon was an executive producer of many of the Academy’s television properties, and oversaw the complex move to Arlington, Texas for the historic 50th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards Show at the AT&T Stadium, which garnered a Guinness World Record for “the most attended live awards show ever.”

Along with managing logistics, ticketing, talent booking, and other crucial aspects of the broadcasts and outside events, Moon directed all departments in the organization, and was a founding member of the Academy’s charitable arm, ACM Lifting Lives. Moon served as an officer to both organizations in her role as Secretary to the Board.