Spotify Brings Together Nashville Songwriting Community For Mental Health Summit

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MusicRow’s LB Cantrell moderates a panel with hit songwriter Emily Weisband, Grammy-nominated songwriter and producer Gabe Simon, Sony Music Publishing Nashville CEO Rusty Gaston and Perfect Game Creative founder Jessi Vaughn Stevenson

Spotify recently welcomed songwriters, artists, executives and music students to Nashville for a Mental Health & Songwriter Summit at Belmont University’s Fisher Center.

The event held in partnership with Backline and powered by BetterHelp, the world’s largest online mental health platform, was an extension of Spotify’s ongoing Heart & Soul, Mental Health for Creators initiative, which offers tools, care and space to reflect on the emotional side of creative life.

Belmont’s Center for Mental Health in Entertainment’s Debbie Carroll moderates a panel with Old Dominion’s Brad Tursi, genre-blending artist Breland, hit songwriter Barry Dean and singer-songwriter Joy Oladokun

The summit brought together nearly 200 members of the songwriting community for a day of conversation, resources and shared experiences centered on mental health in the music industry. The programming kicked off with “The Unsung Heroes,” a panel exploring the rejection, comparison and quiet pressures that come with songwriting and song plugging. Moderated by MusicRow‘s LB Cantrell, the conversation featured Grammy-nominated songwriter and producer Gabe Simon, hit songwriter Emily Weisband, Sony Music Publishing Nashville CEO Rusty Gaston and Jessi Vaughn Stevenson, founder of Perfect Game Creative.

From there, Christopher O’Reilly, Owner, Remedy Counseling and Wellness, led an interactive session on emotional regulation, giving attendees tools they could take into the studio and beyond. The afternoon’s “Creativity on Demand” panel explored how to live a consistent, balanced, healthy lifestyle while sustaining creative inspiration. Moderated by Debbie Carroll, Executive Director of Belmont’s Center for Mental Health in Entertainment, the panel featured Old Dominion’s Brad Tursi, singer-songwriter Joy Oladokun, genre-blending artist Breland and hit songwriter Barry Dean.

Spotify’s Alex Tamashunas leads a conversation with songwriter Steph Jones

The day closed with a fireside chat between songwriter Steph Jones and Spotify’s Songwriter and Publisher Partnerships Lead, Alex Tamashunas, for a candid conversation on identity, balance and creative longevity.

Local organizations including MusiCares, Porter’s Call, Onsite and Belmont’s Center for Mental Health in Entertainment also shared resources for songwriters and spoke directly with those in the room. The summit offered support people could use right away including a dedicated wellness space, which gave writers the opportunity to connect with wellness practitioners and take a moment to rest and reset. Backline provided pathways to ongoing care through their Case Management program, Global Resource Hub and B-LINE, the music industry’s 24/7 crisis and support line, while BetterHelp extended access to continued mental health support beyond the event.

During the event, Spotify and Backline unveiled Between the Lines, a vital mental health guide for songwriters developed by Backline’s clinical team. The guide offers songwriters a way to stay grounded, care for their wellbeing, and sustain a meaningful connection to their craft as it grows and changes over time.

Lorie Hollabaugh
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