‘American Songwriter’ Announces Executive Hires

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Pictured (L-R): Dallas Jackson, Zac Litwack, Colin Montemarano

American Songwriter magazine has announced several new hires. Dallas Jackson has joined the staff as Editor in Chief, while Zac Litwack has been named Chief Marketing Officer, and Colin Montemarano as the Director of Brand Partnerships. All positions are based out of the publication’s Nashville, Tennessee headquarters.

Jackson has over 15 years of experience in digital media, with previous roles including the Director of Editorial at CBS Interactive, where he launched PopCulture.com. The company grew from a startup to over 7 million unique users in one year. In 2016, as the Editor in Chief for ComicBook.com, Jackson was able to increase unique users from 4 million to over 20 million in just two years. A Pennsylvania native, he began his career as Big East Conference Editor for Rivals.com, where he created the Rivals High brand and network.

American Songwriter has also hired Litwack as Chief Marketing Officer, where he will oversee digital marketing strategies, online growth, engagement via the American Songwriter website and social channels, and membership development. An MTSU graduate with a bachelor’s in Recording Arts, Litwack started his own production and marketing company after graduation, which produced a gold record and generated hundreds of millions of streams. After selling the company in 2013 he found his love of “Growth Hacking,” an umbrella term coined by Silicon Valley startups to propel massive growth using a small budget in a short amount of time. Most recently, he grew GoCheck, a pediatric healthcare technology startup, to multi-million dollars in recurring revenue.

Montemarano joins American Songwriter as the Director of Brand Partnerships. In his new role, he will manage all aspects of the American Songwriter brand, innovate partnerships with key artists and members of the media, as well as implement strategic events and additional partner-focused efforts. Montemarano previously served as Manager of Strategic Partnerships for the Music City Bowl and Nashville Sports Council, where he helped grow partnership revenue by over 20%. During his three years, he worked on multiple major events including the TransPerfect Music City Bowl, the SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament, the Davis Cup, and others in the Nashville market. In 2019, Montemarano led the sales, marketing, and creative efforts of the Fan Zone on Broadway, a multi-day event in downtown Nashville that engaged fans with local and national brands throughout the footprint.

“American Songwriter magazine is a timeless, beloved brand that we are eager to elevate to the next level,” owner Sam Savage states. “With these new additions to our team, we have been able to set strategies and attain goals that have resulted in unprecedented growth. We are excited about this next chapter.”

Anthem Entertainment Extends Co-Publishing Deal With Jeremy Stover And RED Creative Group

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Anthem Entertainment has extended its co-publishing deal with songwriter/producer Jeremy Stover and Stover’s RED Creative Group. The deal renews and expands the relationship between Anthem Music Publishing and Stover, including Stover’s publishing interest in songs written by RED Creative Group’s roster of writers. The catalog includes song such as “How Not To” (Dan+Shay), Justin Moore’s “Somebody Else Will,” “The Ones That Didn’t Make It Back Home,” and “Why We Drink,” as well as “To a T” (Ryan Hurd) and “How I’ll Always Be” (Tim McGraw).

Anthem will continue to administer RED Creative Group’s roster of songwriters including Adam Hambrick, Kelly Archer, Travis Denning, Nathan Spicer, L.J, David Fanning and Baker Grissom. Anthem Music Publishing and Stover will also enter into an exclusive futures agreement to sign new songwriters.

Stover said, “Anthem shares the same creative spirit that we value so deeply at RED. Their drive and determination to elevate, while carving their own unique path in entertainment, makes them the perfect partner for RED’s future endeavors.”

Helen Murphy, CEO, Anthem Entertainment said, “Jeremy is an incredibly talented creative in his own right and he is passionate and fierce in his support of artists and songwriters. I am thrilled to expand our relationship with him and his skilled roster of songwriters.”

Tim Wipperman, President of Anthem Music Publishing Nashville, added, “When a music publisher has the rare opportunity to work with a writer and entrepreneur of Jeremy’s quality, it raises the bar for everyone. We’re excited to continue working with Jeremy and the RED Creative team.”

Keith Urban’s ‘The Speed of Now Part 1’ Coming In September

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Keith Urban recently surprised fans with the announcement of his upcoming studio album, The Speed of Now Part 1, which drops on Sept. 18.

A video announcement shows Urban sequestered at home and finding ways to pass the time—making coffee, watching television, scrolling through his phone, playing (Game of Thrones-themed) board games—as he also attempts to conjure up a name for the album.

“I liked it because I felt like life was flying by so fast. Faster and faster all the time. But music, for me, has always been the place where it slows down and doesn’t even exist. I would never have imagined that, in 2020, this album title would take on a whole new meaning and yet somehow still feel incredible relevant.”

The end of the video zips through the names of a few tracks from the project, including “Tumbleweed,” “Change Your Mind,” “Wait,” “Superman,” and “Polaroid,” which Urban released two weeks ago. “Polaroid” was written by Sam Fischer, Steph Jones, Geoff Warburton, Griffen Palmer and Mark Trussell. The track was produced by Urban and Joey Moi.
Watch the announcement video below:

Artist-Writers Shine On MusicRow Top Songwriter Chart

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Artist-writers make up half of the top 10 on the MusicRow Top Songwriter Chart this week, with Morgan Wallen at No. 4, Luke Combs at No. 5, Michael Hardy (or HARDY) at No. 6, Thomas Rhett at No. 8 and David Lee Murphy at No. 9.

Craig Wiseman remains at No. 1 for the third consecutive week, while Shane McAnally stays at No. 2 and Jonathan Singleton at No. 3.

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.

Ryman Auditorium To Remain Closed Through June 6

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Ryman Auditorium. Photo: ryman.com/media

The Ryman Auditorium is electing to remain closed in the interest of the health and well-being of its guests and employees and to align with Metro Nashville safety guidelines through June 6, 2020.

They are extending the pause on operations for all activity at the Ryman, including shows and events, retail, food service at Cafe Lula, and all tours through that date. This includes all tickets purchased for events during this period. The Ryman will contact ticketholders directly regarding event rescheduling for concerts during this period.

Tickets for tour dates through June 6, 2020 will be automatically refunded to the credit card used to place the order. The Ryman Auditorium’s customer service team has already begun to process these refunds. At this time, events held after June 6, 2020 are proceeding as planned.

For a full list of affected concerts and events, visit ryman.com.

Industry Ink: Nashville Needs A Song, Chord Overstreet, Plaid Flag Music

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NSAI Helps Launch “Nashville Needs A Song” Competition


The “Nashville Needs A Song” songwriting competition is asking Music City songwriters to submit compositions that help inspire and uplift Nashvillians as they navigate the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts. Nashville Needs A Song is a joint initiative of the Mayor’s Office, Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp and Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI). NSAI will administer the contest, which is open to songs that include at least one songwriter who lives in Davidson County, with the submitting writer being a current member of NSAI. Submissions should be made at nashvillesongwriters.com until May 12. The first 100 submissions will be considered.

To encourage submissions and to help those who keep the music playing in Music City, the NCVC is offering prize money from its COVID-19 relief fund, which is part of its charitable foundation: $2,500 to the winning songwriter, along with $1,000 for second place and $500 for third.  The winning tune may be used by the city and NCVC as part of marketing initiatives. Writers and their publishers will retain all future rights to the song.

Chord Overstreet Achieves Heavy Metal Status With “Hold On”

RIAA’s Jackie Jones with Chord Overstreet.

Chord Overstreet has earned his first career RIAA Platinum certification for his debut single, “Hold On,” and was recently congratulated via Zoom call for the accolade by Jackie Jones, the RIAA’s Vice President, Artist and Industry Relations. Continuing to impact listeners, the ballad has racked up over 175 million streams on Spotify; over 44 million streams on Apple Music, and over 203 million lyric video views on YouTube, as well as being featured in the series finale of The CW’s The Vampire Diaries.

Autumn McEntire Inks With Plaid Flag Music

Pictured (L-R): Courtney Blake, Creative Director, Autumn McEntire, Writer, Kendall Warren, Sr. Creative Director, Stephanie Cox, Sr. VP of Creative – Kobalt

Autumn McEntire has signed with Plaid Flag Music. The Oklahoma native and longtime Nashville resident began her career as a songwriter when she signed her first publishing deal upon graduating from Belmont University. As an artist, she had two independent releases and performed at the Ryman Auditorium. She’s had cuts by Matt Stell’s “Better I Drink” (2019), Walker County’s “The Hamptons” (2019), and Reba McEntire’s “Stronger Than The Truth” (2019) and has also secured cuts with up-and-coming artists Meghan Patrick, Stephanie Quayle, Lacy Cavalier, Rachel Reinert and Mae Estes.

“She’s incredible,” said Kendall Warren, Sr. Creative Director of Plaid Flag Music. “We have always admired her work and now are so excited to be partnering with her. She’s an amazing writer but an even better person. She will add incredible value to our team and we can’t wait for the future.”

Weekly Register: Gabby Barrett Continues To Rule Country Streaming Songs Chart

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Gabby Barrett‘s “I Hope” continues to rule the country streaming songs chart this week, with 11.5 million streams, and 236 million streams to date, according to Nielsen Soundscan.

This week’s Top 5 country on-demand streaming songs:

Gabby Barrett, “I Hope”: 11.5 million/236 million to date
Diplo and Julia Michaels w/ Morgan Wallen, “Heartless”: 8.24 million/236 million to date
Morgan Wallen, “Chasin’ You”: 8.2 million/162 million to date
Maren Morris, “The Bones”: 7.8 million/323 million to date
Blake Shelton w/ Gwen Stefani, “Nobody But You”: 7 million/79 million to date

As previously reported, Kenny Chesney debuted atop the Billboard Top 200 albums chart this week with his latest release, Here and Now, with 233K in total consumption. He also tops this week’s country albums chart, while Luke Combs shifts down to the No. 2 and No. 3 spots. Morgan Wallen and Sam Hunt round out the top 5 country albums this week.

This week’s Top 5 country albums (total consumption):

Kenny Chesney, Here and Now:  233K
Luke Combs, What You See Is What You Get: 31K
Luke Combs, This One’s For You:  23K
Morgan Wallen,  If I Know Me:  21K
Sam Hunt, SOUTHSIDE:  18K

Music, Film Industries Call On Congress To Fix Safety Net In CARES Act

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BMI, ASCAP, NSAI, RIAA, SAG-AFTRA, and many more organizations in the music and film industries sent a letter to members of Congress highlighting the ways implementation of the CARES Act has fallen short in aiding workers in the entertainment community. The letter also requests that these flaws be remedied in a new CARES Act COVID relief package.

In a joint statement the organizations stated: “While we appreciate the efforts of lawmakers to meet the challenges of this pandemic, we need to ensure that our community is getting the aid they need to survive. Musicians are struggling to access the basic financial resources available due to conflicting and burdensome requirements in relief programs. Simply, there is a hole in this safety net that Congress must fix in the next version of the CARES Act. We need help that only [Congress] can provide, in a way that recognizes the particulars of our industry. On behalf of the hundreds of thousands of us across the country, thank you for your understanding and your action.”

The letter lays out in stark terms the crisis that the live entertainment industry is facing due to the pandemic and points out the fact that the implementation of the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program has overlooked workers who have mixed income and report it on W-2 and 1099 forms.

“In almost all cases that we see in every state, a minimum amount of W-2 income disqualifies a self-employed individual for PUA and significantly lowers the amount of assistance they receive,” the letter states. “PUA must be updated to recognize these different income streams and allow individuals to show their mixed sources of revenue for a full accounting of their annual income.”

Among the organizations signing the letter are the Artist Rights Alliance (ARA), American Association of Independent Music (A2IM), American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI), the Future of Music Coalition, Global Music Rights (GMR), the Music Artists Coalition (MAC), the Music Business Association, National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI), the Recording Academy, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the Screen Actors Guild-the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), the Society of European Stage Authors and Composers (SESAC), the Songwriters Guild of America, the Songwriters of North America (SONA), SoundExchange and many more.

Luke Bryan To Co-Host ‘A Salute To The Songwriters’ Radio Concert Benefit

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Luke Bryan. Photo: Jim Wright

Luke Bryan is co-hosting “A Salute To The Songwriters,” a three-hour benefit concert for the MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund presented by BMI and Cox Media Group, Alpha Media, Beasley Media Group, Hubbard Radio, Neuhoff Media and Townsquare Media this Saturday, (May 16) at 7 p.m. local time.

The concert will be co-hosted by several local DJs and broadcast on more than 100 country stations across all six broadcast groups, and will feature some of the writers behind country music’s biggest hits straight from their living rooms and home studios. The lineup includes Dallas Davidson, Rhett Akins, Jon Randall, Jessi Alexander, Luke Dick, Jeff Hyde, Brandon Kinney, Clint Daniels, Barry Dean, Natalie Hemby, Dylan Altman, and Wynn Varble.

The special will take audiences behind the scenes into the writing rooms with stories of how the hits were created, and will spotlight several songwriters on the rise as they discuss how this difficult time has directly affected them and their livelihoods.

“We’re proud to partner with the country’s leading local radio groups to support the songwriters whose music brings us together in good times and in bad,” said Mike O’Neill, President & CEO, BMI. “Songwriters are often considered the smallest of small businesses, and like so many small businesses, they are deeply impacted by this pandemic. We’re so grateful that some of BMI’s top country music creators are lending their voices to support this incredibly important cause.”

To donate to the MusiCares COVID-19 relief fund for songwriters, listeners can text SONGWRITERS to 41444 or click here to give online.

“Like so many others, songwriters have been deeply impacted by COVID-19 and the temporary closure of bars, restaurants and live music venues.” said Tim Clarke, VP of Content and Audience for Cox Media Group. “Broadcasters have outstanding relationships with this community, and we are honored to join together in creating this special to celebrate and support these talented individuals who are the heart of country music.”

Clay Myers Launches Nashville Music Consultants

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Clay Myers. Photo: Donn Jones Photography

Clay Myers has launched a new boutique consulting agency, Nashville Music Consultants, which will serve music publishers, artists, songwriters, and production companies, through A&R work, recording/production services, imaging and brand development, social media, song plugging, catalog licensing and administration, talent booking, and project management.

“I’ve been fortunate to work with virtually every aspect of the industry from publishing and labels to management and touring,” Myers says. “And it has never been more important as staffs decrease, and expectations escalate to bring experience and perspective to the table. That’s what I’m ready to provide with NMC.”

Myers is already providing management, production services, and catalog representation to a variety of companies including Reviver Publishing, Starstruck Entertainment’s publishing division, Vandermont Music Publishing, Schedler Music (Austria), the Easton Corbin Music catalog, A Million Midnights Music, and more.

His recent television credits include talent producer for The Song, recorded live at TGL Farms and talent booker for The Southern Weekend show on the Circle Network. Myers is offering development services for several young artists in addition to mentoring songwriters with Songtown. Myers has also created the online songwriting/publishing forum #NashvillePitchTips, sharing his experience with aspiring writers.

Florida native Myers moved to Nashville in 1986 to work for Maypop Music, owned by country supergroup Alabama. Several years later, he was named general manager of a new music publishing division at Reba McEntire’s Starstruck Entertainment.

On the management side, Myers served as day-to-day manager for Billy Dean, Linda Davis, 4 Runner, and River Road. In 1997, Myers made the move to Creative Artists Agency (CAA), where he helped secure catalog representation deals with Sony/ATV and a CAA joint venture with Chrysalis Music. While at CAA, Myers developed and secured record deals for Little Big Town and Emerson Drive, and secured numerous cuts, including the award-winning single “Beautiful Mess” by Diamond Rio.

Later, as GM/VP of Roy Orbison Music/Still Working Music, Myers worked with hit makers Tommy Lee James, Terry McBride, Clay Mills, Billy Burnette, and Liz Rose. An advocate for artists as well as songwriters, Myers worked to help artists including Danielle Peck, Jedd Hughes, Kaci Brown, and Luna Halo land label deals.

In 2012, Myers began leading publishing company Big Tractor Music, and was instrumental in securing a buyer for the company’s catalog. During this time, he continued working the catalog as a consultant and joined the management team at Trey Turner Artist Management, representing Easton Corbin and Jackie Lee.

In 2015, Myers was contracted to establish and launch MV2, an independent music publishing and artist development company. It was in that position that Myers realized that there was an industry-wide need for experienced, independent consultants to help talented and driven songwriters and artists pursue their dreams.

“Being a part of creative growth and success has always been my passion,” he said. “Dreams are only wishes unless you make a plan and take massive action! That is how I can help. I am here to assist with a plan of action.”