NMPA Honors Ashley Gorley & Brandi Carlile, Announces Twitter Lawsuit

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Pictured (L-R): NMPA President & CEO David Israelite, Ashley Gorley, Luke Bryan

The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) hosted its annual meeting at the Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall on Wednesday (June 14).

The event honored Brandi Carlile with the 2023 NMPA Songwriter Icon award. Ten-time Grammy nominee Brandy Clark performed “You and Me On The Rock” in a surprise tribute to Carlile, who recently produced her critically acclaimed album, and Grammy nominated singer-songwriter Allison Russell performed Carlile’s hit “This Time Tomorrow.”

Carlile, a nine-time Grammy winner, performed “The Mother” and shared some words about songwriting.

“Every once in a while I’ll know that its time for me to end my constant struggle with internal feelings of aloneness, and I write songs again,” she said. “It’s not really a song for me until I’ve shared it. I write a song and then I’m that girl that’s going to call you immediately on the phone and sing it to you… I get so much songwriting inspiration from the uniqueness of other writers who write in community.”

Pictured (L-R): NMPA President & CEO David Israelite, Brandi Carlile

Ashley Gorley was also honored by the NMPA, receiving the Non-Performing Songwriter Icon award. Gorley has celebrated a whopping 67 No. 1 hits, is the NSAI Songwriter of the Decade and recently took home the ACM’s Songwriter of the Year award.

Luke Bryan honored Gorley with a performance of “What Makes You Country” and “Play it Again.”

When accepting, Gorley said “I want to say thank you to all the artists throughout the years like Luke who’ve trusted me along the way and my songs, and my instincts, or whatever it is that caused them to put their trust in me and let me be a part of the stories they were telling, that’s really special.”

Additionally, RIAA Chairman & CEO Mitch Glazier was awarded the NMPA Industry Legacy Award and Senator Dick Durbin was given the NMPA President’s Award.

During the event’s State of the Industry address, NMPA EVP & General Counsel Danielle Aguirre unveiled a new lawsuit against Twitter for alleged infringement of publishers’ songs on its platform and failure to license. The complaint seeks over $250 million in damages for hundreds of thousands of noticed infringements of approximately 1,700 works.

The event also unveiled new analysis including the size of the U.S. publishing industry. NMPA President & CEO David Israelite announced that the 2022 total revenue came to $5,605,824,140—a 19.25 percent increase over 2021. Additionally, the revenue breakdown was divided out to 48.29 percent from performance royalties, 26.07 percent from sync, 20.27 percent from mechanical royalties and 5.37 percent from miscellaneous sources.

Israelite also touted streaming revenue increases. Stemming from the CRB IV settlement which went into effect in January, growing subscribers and increased prices from some platforms, NMPA reports a 27 percent revenue uplift overall from January 2022 to January 2023. Israelite noted the true increase is likely much larger since digital services still owe songwriters and publishers repayment at increased CRB III rates, which were upheld on appeal.

The meeting also included a surprise tribute to acclaimed songwriter Liz Rose, who yesterday exited the NMPA Board after fulfilling her four-year term. The tribute was performed by Nashville singer-songwriter Alana Springsteen. Israelite announced that four-time Grammy nominee and CMA, ACM and BMI Song of the Year winner Laura Veltz had been elected to her seat for the next term.

Legendary manager and tech entrepreneur Guy Oseary was also featured in a keynote conversation discussing the implications of AI on the music industry.

LB Cantrell
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