Warner Chappell Music has revealed a new logo and brand identity. These changes follow the recent announcement of the company’s new leadership duo of Co-Chair & CEO Guy Moot and Co-Chair & COO Carianne Marshall, as well as their move into a new state-of-the-art U.S. headquarters in downtown Los Angeles’ Arts District. This is the company’s first rebrand since 1987.

In making the announcement, Moot and Marshall said: “We’re thrilled to be opening this new era with a new look that reflects both our heritage and our future. We love our new logo, which is a tribute to our songwriters and the power, emotion, and timelessness of their craft. They’re our constant inspiration, and we’re their devoted partners, collaborators, and crusaders.”

They added, “We’re also modernizing our name by dropping the slash from Warner/Chappell, which is symbolic of our becoming a more global, connected company. And we’ve put ‘Music’ in the logo. It’s always been part of our name, but we wanted to be clear that it’s our reason for being.”

This is the first rebrand since Warner/Chappell was formed when Warner Bros. Music acquired Chappell in 1987, and the Warner Bros. logo was adopted for the launch of the newly combined company. Today Warner Chappell Music’s catalog includes more than 1 million copyrights worldwide.

The new Warner Chappell Music brand identity and logo were developed in partnership with Emily Oberman and her team at Pentagram. Pentagram has worked with many companies and events such as DC Entertainment, Wizarding World, Rotten Tomatoes, Saturday Night Live, Rolls Royce, London Fashion Week, Sundance Institute, and Sotheby’s, as well as music projects for the likes of Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, and The National, among many others.

Soundstripe Picks Up $4 Million Series A Financing

Soundstripe this week closed its $4 million Series A financing. The tech-enabled production music startup has attracted customers by offering  solutions for royalty-free music. Producing, owning, and distributing its music library directly to filmmakers allows for consistent quality music content and a focus on innovative user experience for the exploding video creator market.

With an avid and loyal creator community, Soundstripe has seen triple-digit, year-over-year growth for the past three years. The investment will allow Soundstripe to continue expanding its presence in the production music space, where its subscription model has resulted in over 2 million “micro-licenses” being issued in over 130 countries since its inception in 2016. The funding will also enable the company to invest further in its original content, expand its product offerings, and enhance its enterprise solution to the growing list of marquee clients.

 

117 Entertainment Celebrates Second Anniversary

117 Entertainment Group celebrated their second anniversary recently, with many of the company’s roster in attendance, including Randy Travis, Scooter Brown, Kalie Shorr, Paul Bogart, Karissa Ella and Honey County. The evening included each act sharing a new song they’ve written or recorded and a group-sing of Travis’ mega-hit “Forever and Ever, Amen.”

 

Rootnote Partners With Symphonic Distribution, Singer Timothy Bloom

Nashville-based music startup RootNote has made its third investment in an artist and announced a preferred partnership with Symphonic Distribution. RootNote is now working with two-time Grammy-winning songwriter, producer, and soul singer Timothy Bloom. Bloom, who is the first investment RootNote has made outside of Nashville, is currently mixing his newest project, to be released later this year.

“We continue to be excited by the number of talented artists, artist teams, and service partners that we have an opportunity to work with,” says RootNote co-founder and CEO Jason Burchard. “Our partnership with Timothy Bloom and strategic relationship with Symphonic are incredible additions to our growing family and we are excited for the years ahead.”

Round Hill Music’s Ashley Gorley is at No. 1 on the MusicRow Top Songwriter Chart for the sixth consecutive week. The top ten remains the same as last week, with Michael Hardy at No. 2, Ross Copperman at No. 3, Jordan M. Schmidt at No. 4 and Shane McAnally at No. 5.

Hillary Lindsey is the first of only nine female songwriters to appear on the chart at No. 8. Maren Morris is the next at No. 19, Kelsea Ballerini is at No. 33, Heather Morgan is at No. 37, Sarah Aarons is at No. 40, Laura Veltz is at No. 41, Connie Harrington is at No. 52, Kelley Lovelace is at No. 53 and Alysa Vanderheym sits at No. 59.

The weekly MusicRow Top Songwriter Chart, published every week, uses algorithms based upon song activity according to airplay, digital downloaded track sales and streams. This unique and exclusive addition to the MusicRow portfolio is the only songwriter chart of its kind.

Click here to view the full MusicRow Top Songwriter Chart.

Paradigm Talent Agency has named Chappel McCollister as Sr. VP, Strategic Partnerships. Based in the company’s Nashville office, McCollister will represent Paradigm’s music clients, with a focus on the Nashville roster, across a range of areas including brand and corporate partnerships, premium VIP experiences, product licensing, and strategic investments.

“We’re ecstatic to welcome Chappel into our Paradigm Nashville collective,” said Nashville Office Leader Jonathan Levine. “We live in exciting times, filled with bountiful opportunities for the artists we’re privileged to serve. Chappel, with his extraordinary global purview and expertise, as well as his approach to artist development and career building, perfectly aligns with our philosophies of elevating our level of service and strategic partnerships to unprecedented heights. Game On.”

“I am extremely excited to join the Paradigm team,” said McCollister. “I have long admired their strategic approach to artist development. Paradigm’s passion for music and the artist is contagious. I’m honored to be a part of such an innovative and collaborative organization.”

McCollister joins Paradigm from the artist management company Sandbox Entertainment, where he executive produced the Showtime documentary chronicling Tim McGraw and Faith Hill’s 2017 tour, Tim & Faith: Soul2Soul. McCollister most recently worked with Mattel to launch their 60th anniversary of Barbie featuring Kelsea Ballerini, and oversaw Little Big Town’s wine brand, Four Cellars. Before his time at Sandbox, McCollister was the Director of Tour Partnerships at G7 Entertainment Marketing, where he oversaw global tour partnership activations including U2 with Salesforce, Taylor Swift with Keds and Diet Coke, and P!NK with COVERGIRL.