Music Row Toasts Charttopper "Beer Money"

Photo by John Russell" src="https://musicrow.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/trade-Beer-Money-No.-1_02.14.13.jpg" width="570" height="352" /> BMI toasted the team behind Kip Moore’s No. 1 hit “Beer Money."Pictured are (back row, l-r): Warner/Chappell’s Ben Vaughn, producer Brett James, Universal Music Nashville’s Royce Risser, manager Shawn McSpadden, Universal Music Publishing’s Kent Earls, Internal Combustion Music’s Chris Farren, and Songs of the Corn’s Nate Lowery; (front row, l-r): co-writer Troy Verges, Kip Moore, co-writer Blair Daly, and BMI’s Perry Howard. Photo by John Russell

BMI toasted the team behind Kip Moore’s No. 1 hit “Beer Money.”
Pictured are (back row, l-r): Warner/Chappell’s Ben Vaughn, producer Brett James, Universal Music Nashville’s Royce Risser, manager Shawn McSpadden, Universal Music Publishing’s Kent Earls, Internal Combustion Music’s Chris Farren, and Songs of the Corn’s Nate Lowery; (front row, l-r): co-writers Troy Verges, Kip Moore, and Blair Daly, and BMI’s Perry Howard. Photo by John Russell


Songwriters Blair Daly, Kip Moore and Troy Verges should soon have plenty of “Beer Money” burning holes in their pockets following the recent No. 1. Moore offered to pick up the tab when he sang, “Come on, come on, baby I’m buying.” But BMI and sponsor Avenue Bank let him off the hook today (Feb. 14) by hosting a lunchtime soiree at BMI to toast his second consecutive charttopper as an artist and writer. BMI’s Perry Howard led the proceedings.
Publishers taking the stage to offer and share in the congratulations were UMPG’s Kent Earls, Warner/Chappell’s Ben Vaughn, Combustion’s Chris Farren and Cornman Music’s Nate Lowery. Earls recalled how writers Verges and Daly met 20 years earlier as students at MTSU. After all their time collaborating, “Beer Money” is their first single as co-writers, penned with Moore the day before he went into the studio to record his debut album.
Verges and Daly thanked everyone involved with the song’s success. Daly joked that they waited so long to have a No. 1 because they both hate speaking in public, but assured, “let’s not make it another 20 years.”
UMG promo guru Royce Risser cheered his team members for their strong one-week push to get the track into the top spot. He also explained how Moore pens lengthy hand-written notes to radio programmers and proclaimed, “Kip, you out-work our staff.”
CMA’s Brandi Simms, CRB’s RJ Curtis, and Avenue Bank’s Cooper Samuels also presented honors.
Long known as a hit songwriter, Brett James is Moore’s biggest champion. They first met at the YMCA, where Moore was working and James was working out. James signed him to a publishing deal with Cornman Music, and produced his album. “This is family for me,” said James of the songwriters. “There’s nothing like celebrating a No. 1 with three of your best friends in the world.”
Moore recalled rough patches earlier in his career, when he lived in run-down apartment and songwriting filled his days off work. “My soul would’ve been dead if it wasn’t for music,” he explained honestly. He offered a long list of thank-yous, starting with James. “Brett James is what this town should still be about…He believed in me. It is that belief that I will never forget.” He also saluted Red Light Management’s Shawn McSpadden, and drew cheers from the audience with his toast to Marc Dennis and his team at CAA: “They wanted me when no one else did—now they look like geniuses.”

BMI On Rights Withdrawal: An Open Letter To The Music Industry

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BMI President/CEO Del Bryant has issued an open letter to the music industry addressing the withdrawal of certain publishing catalogs from BMI’s repertoire for digital licensing. The full text is below, and here are a few highlights:
• As of January 1, 2013 the Sony/ATV and EMI catalogs have been withdrawn from the BMI repertoire only for limited digital uses. The withdrawal only impacts the shares of compositions actually owned or controlled by Sony/ATV and EMI. The withdrawal does not cover all digital uses and BMI will continue to license the Sony/ATV and EMI repertoires across most digital platforms and services. As a result, in some cases the same licensee will have to secure both a blanket license for shares of songs represented by BMI and a separate license from Sony/ATV and EMI for their respective shares of publicly-performed musical works.
• In conjunction with our modified publishing agreements, we entered into a new business relationship under which BMI will provide royalty processing and distribution services to Sony/ATV and EMI. Under the administrative agreement, BMI will distribute royalties to songwriters and publishers resulting from Sony/ATV and EMI’s negotiations. These agreements are BMI’s first entry into offering these types of administrative services.
• Publishers who wish to follow similar withdrawal terms will be allowed to modify their existing agreements at the end of their contracts
• • • • •
February 11, 2013
By Del R. Bryant
It is a dynamic time in our industry; it is a time of experimentation and transformation of many of the models which have generated revenue for recorded music and for music publishing, impacting songwriters, composers, publishers, artists and labels alike. Throughout BMI’s nearly 75 years of representing writers and publishers, we have seen many challenges and opportunities to secure reliable and fair compensation for the creators of music. We have navigated through changing markets and the development of new outlets for the performance of music and created solutions which add value to the marketplace.
Recent articles in the trade and consumer press have covered the withdrawal of catalogs from performing rights organizations by music publishers for certain digital uses. These issues are complex, and I wanted to take a minute to clarify the positions and policies BMI has formulated to address this development.
Some BMI publishers have stated in the press that the main driver in their desire to withdraw their works for specific digital uses is to set their own pricing. Publishers have always had the right to directly license. In the case of withdrawal, they believe they may obtain higher royalty rates from this market if they negotiate their own agreements outside of BMI’s regulatory framework. By withdrawing works from BMI, publishers become the only entities that can license those works and therefore can deny permission to perform their works if they do not come to agreement on rates and terms. By contrast, BMI, under its Consent Decree, is required to automatically issue a license upon a request from a licensee, and if the parties are not able to negotiate a fee after a period of time, either party can initiate a rate-setting proceeding. The press has recently quoted sources stating that, by working outside of the major PROs’ regulatory framework, Sony/ATV was able to increase their fees from Pandora by 25% versus the current rates of U.S. Performing Rights Organizations.
In 2011 we agreed to modify our contract with EMI Music Publishing and last year we agreed to similar modifications with Sony/ATV. As a result, as of January 1, 2013 the Sony/ATV and EMI catalogs have been withdrawn from the BMI repertoire only for limited digital uses. You can find a definition of these uses at http://www.bmi.com/drw. The withdrawal only impacts the shares of compositions actually owned or controlled by Sony/ATV and EMI. The withdrawal does not cover all digital uses and BMI will continue to license the Sony/ATV and EMI repertoires across most digital platforms and services. As a result, in some cases the same licensee will have to secure both a blanket license for shares of songs represented by BMI and a separate license from Sony/ATV and EMI for their respective shares of publicly-performed musical works. BMI will continue to license on behalf of our other major and independent publishers for all shares of all works in our repertoire for all digital uses.
Publishers who wish to follow similar withdrawal terms will be allowed to modify their existing agreements at the end of their contract or, if they have multiple contracts, at the weighted average term date of all those agreements. In the event that additional publishers withdraw, we will post the names of these publishers in the New Media section of bmi.com at http://www.bmi.com/drw. Preexisting licenses (“licenses in effect”) will include all repertoire until BMI’s agreement with the licensee expires. BMI will maintain its right to continue to enter into going-forward licenses for all digital uses until the works are actually withdrawn for such uses from BMI’s repertoire.
In conjunction with our modified publishing agreements, we entered into a new business relationship under which BMI will provide royalty processing and distribution services to Sony/ATV and EMI. Under the administrative agreement, BMI will distribute royalties to songwriters and publishers resulting from Sony/ATV and EMI’s negotiations. These agreements are BMI’s first entry into offering these types of administrative services and we believe this is one of many opportunities for our organization to provide additional value to our affiliates in today’s dynamic market.
While certainly complex, we see these recent developments as a clear marketplace signal of the enhanced value music brings to the digital world and beyond. We are working diligently to make that value a reality not just for large multinational music companies, but for ALL songwriters, ALL composers and ALL music publishers. We have already cited these marketplace agreements in our negotiations with our licensees and we will encourage our Rate Court to consider them as a new indicator of market value. We are also working in Washington to seek a change to current law to allow us to bring the rates set by the Copyright Royalty Judges for public performances in sound recordings under Section 114 of the U.S copyright law into evidence in BMI rate proceedings for consideration as rate benchmarks.
While recent developments may have added complexity to an already complex rights landscape, we see opportunity. We see an opportunity to level the digital playing field and to allow the courts to consider all precedents across the digital spectrum. We see an opportunity to value performances of musical works fairly when compared to performances of sound recordings. We see opportunities for BMI to provide additional administrative services and add value to the markets we serve. All the while we remain dedicated to serving our constituents: songwriters, composers, music publishers and our licensees.

Key West Songwriter's Festival Set For May 1-5

keywestsongwriter'sfestival1BMI will join forces again with the Smokin’ Tuna Saloon to present the Key West Songwriter’s Festival from May 1-5, 2013. The event has become an annual pilgrimage south for many country and pop songwriters for the past 18 years.
This year’s list of performers includes Jeffrey Steele, Paul Overstreet, Bob DiPiero, Lori McKenna, Bobby Pinson, Chuck Cannon, Keith Stegall, Liz Rose, Paul Jenkins, James Slater, Doug Johnson and Even Stevens. Also performing are Steve Cropper, The World Famous Headliners (comprised of Pat McLaughlin, Shawn Camp and Al Anderson), Robert Earl Keen, Gary Clark, Jr., Guthrie Trapp and others to be announced in the coming weeks.

“BMI’s support of the Key West Songwriter’s Festival illustrates the commitment to our songwriters to put them in front of meaningful audiences to further expose their music,” said BMI’s Executive Director of Writer/Publisher Relations Mark Mason.
A free street concert on Saturday, May 4 will feature Sony artists Bush Hawg, Joanna Smith and X Factor winner Tate Stevens.
For more information, visit keywestsongwritersfestival.com.
 

Nashville Signings

Steve Williams, best known for the tunes “Redneck Yacht Club” (Craig Morgan), “A Father’s Love (The Only Way He Knew How)” (Bucky Covington) and “Where Have I Been All My Life” (George Strait), has returned to Green Hills Music Group.
“Steve is a wonderful writer and a great human being,” says Green Hills Music Group President Woody Bomar. “It is always a joy to work with him.”
“Green Hills always offers such a supportive environment. It feels like home,” says Williams.
Green Hills Music Group also represents the music of Steve Mitchell, Georgia Middleman, Bob Regan, Rick Giles, Bonnie Baker, Paul Duncan, Dave Rivers, Sarahbeth Taite and Patricia Summers.

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Pictured (L-R): Woody Bomar and Steve Williams

• • •

Ross Coppley has signed with Buddy Lee Attractions for booking. The Lexington, N.C. native averages over 100 performances per year and has established a loyal fanbase throughout the Eastern U.S.

Pictured (L-R): BLA agent Matt McGuire, Coppley (seated), manager Wes Mayers, Redline Entertainment.

Pictured (L-R): BLA agent Matt McGuire, Coppley (seated), and manager Wes Mayers of Redline Entertainment.


 
 

Signing Snapshots: Warner/Chappell, Capitol CMG

Warner/Chappell Music has signed a worldwide co-publishing agreement with Grammy-nominated musician, producer and songwriter Derek George. He recently produced Randy Houser’s No. 1 track “How Country Feels,” and has also had songs recorded by Rascal Flatts, Jake Owen, Wynonna Judd, Hootie & the Blowfish, Josh Gracin and Hannah Montana, among others.

Pictured (L-R): Front Row: Alicia Pruitt, Sr. Dir., A&R; Derek George; Ben Vaugh, Exec. VP. Back Row: Matt Michiels, Productions Manager; Steve Markland, VP, A&R; BJ Hill, Sr. Dir., A&R; Blain Rhodes, Creative Coord.; Phil May, VP/G

Pictured (L-R): Front Row: Alicia Pruitt, Sr. Dir., A&R; Derek George; Ben Vaugh, Exec. VP. Back Row: Matt Michiels, Production Mgr.; Steve Markland, VP, A&R; BJ Hill, Sr. Dir., A&R; Blain Rhodes, Creative Coord.; Phil May, VP/GM

• • • • • •

Cole Walowac and Jon White, members of the Gotee Records band Capital Kings, visited SESAC to celebrate their recent signing with Capitol CMG Publishing. The band also cheered the success of their self-titled release, which debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard Christian Albums chart.

Pictured (L-R): Capitol CMG Publishing’s Eddie DeGarmo, SESAC’s John Mullins, Walowac, White, SESAC’s Tim Fink and Joey Elwood of Gotee Records. Photo: Ed Rode

Pictured (L-R): Capitol CMG Publishing’s Eddie DeGarmo, SESAC’s John Mullins, Cole Walowac, Jon White, SESAC’s Tim Fink and Gotee Records’ Joey Elwood. Photo: Ed Rode

CMA Presents Triple Play Awards

CMA leadership gathers with the newly named CMA Triple Play Award winning songwriters on Jan. 29, 2013 at Marathon Music Works in Nashville, Tenn. Back row (l-r): CMA Board President, Ed Hardy; Neil Thrasher; Rodney Clawson; Ben Hayslip; CMA Chief Executive Officer, Steve Moore; Josh Kear; CMA Board Chairman, Troy Tomlinson; and Brantley Gilbert. Front row (l-r): Eric Paslay; Dierks Bentley; Shane McAnally; and Chris Young. Photo credit: Donn Jones/CMA

CMA leadership gathers with the newly named CMA Triple Play Award winning songwriters on Jan. 29, 2013 at Marathon Music Works in Nashville, Tenn. Back row (l-r): CMA Board President, Ed Hardy; Neil Thrasher; Rodney Clawson; Ben Hayslip; CMA Chief Executive Officer, Steve Moore; Josh Kear; CMA Board Chairman, Troy Tomlinson; and Brantley Gilbert. Front row (l-r): Eric Paslay; Dierks Bentley; Shane McAnally; and Chris Young. Photo credit: Donn Jones/CMA


CMA Triple Play Awards, honoring songwriters who pen three chart-topping hits in a 12-month period, were presented yesterday (Jan. 29) at the CMA Songwriters Luncheon. Twelve songwriters achieved the feat: Dierks Bentley, Rodney Clawson, Eric Church, Brantley Gilbert, Ben Hayslip, Dave Haywood, Josh Kear, Charles Kelley, Shane McAnally, Eric Paslay, Neil Thrasher and Chris Young.
Presiding over the event at Marathon Music Works was CMA Board Chairman Troy Tomlinson, President and CEO, Sony/ATV Music Publishing Nashville. During the luncheon, he presented a $250,000 donation from the CMA Foundation to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Foundation to help construct the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame at the new Music City Center and “Songwriters Square,” an exterior plaza and walkway leading into the state-of-the-art Center, which will be engraved with the names of Songwriters Hall of Fame members and the titles of their most beloved compositions.
In alphabetical order, the recipients of CMA’s Triple Play Award:
Dierks Bentley: “Am I The Only One,” “Home,” “5-1-5-0”
Rodney Clawson: “Drink On It,” “Drunk On You,” “Take A Little Ride”
Eric Church: “Drink In My Hand,” “Springsteen,” “Creepin’”
Brantley Gilbert: “Dirt Road Anthem,” “Country Must Be Country Wide” “You Don’t Know Her Like I Do”
Ben Hayslip: “Honey Bee,” “I Don’t Want This Night To End,” “I’m Gonna Love You Through It”
Dave Haywood: “Just A Kiss,” “We Owned The Night,” “Dancin’ Away With My Heart”
Josh Kear: “Dancin’ Away With My Heart,” “Drunk On You,” “Blown Away”
Charles Kelley: “Just A Kiss,” “We Owned The Night.” “Dancin’ Away With My Heart”
Shane McAnally: “Alone With You,” “Come Over,” “Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye”
Eric Paslay: “Barefoot Blue Jean Night,” “Even If It Breaks Your Heart,” “Angel Eyes”
Neil Thrasher: “Tattoos On This Town,” “Banjo,” “Fly Over States”
Chris Young: “Voices,” “Tomorrow,” “You”

Zavitson Music Group Adds VP

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Lynn Gann


Russ Zavitson, president of Zavitson Music Group (ZMG), announced that Lynn Gann, a 25-year music industry veteran has joined ZMG as Vice President, Country Division, a newly created position focused on catalog exploitation, artist development and management opportunities.
Gann is the former VP/Founder of Full Circle Music Publishing. The Nashville native was instrumental in No. 1 hits including “When I Get Where I’m Going,” “Anything Like Me” and “Old Alabama” (Brad Paisley), “Fly Over States” (Jason Aldean), “Homewrecker” (Gretchen Wilson) and “Boys Of Fall” (Kenny Chesney). His career includes time at Tom Collins Music, MCA Music Publishing and Zomba Enterprises.
“Lynn’s reputation as a true industry professional is well documented,” said Zavitson. “He’s widely recognized for his ability to spot a hit well ahead of the pack and his track record for securing a placement he believes in borders on legendary. We’re confident that Lynn’s involvement will be instrumental in making sure our writers are aligned with the right co-writers and our songs find their way into the hands of the artists who can get them heard.”
ZMG’s current roster of writers includes Walker Hayes (Capitol Records), John Ramey of the duo Martin/Ramey (Curb), Tony Haselden, Liz Hengber, Steve Misamore, Jeffrey East, Mike Demay and Terry Dennis. The company has had recent cuts by Thompson Square, Rodney Atkins, Chris Young, Reba McEntire, Dierks Bentley, Point of Grace and Selah.
Gann can be reached at lynn@zmgllc.com or 615-321-2212.

BMI Salutes Shapiro With Million-Air Awards

BMI recently presented Tom Shapiro with Million-Air Awards for five of his songs at its Music Row office. One of Nashville’s most successful songwriters, Shapiro received Million-Air Awards for “She Never Lets it Go to Her Heart,” recorded by Tim McGraw (2 million performances); “That Ain’t My Truck,” recorded by Rhett Akins (3 million performances); “Wink,” recorded by Neal McCoy (4 million performances); “Nothin’ New Under the Moon,” recorded by LeAnn Rimes (1 million performances); and “When Boy Meets Girl,” recorded by Terri Clark (2 million performances). Shapiro is a four-time BMI Country Songwriter of the Year and has penned 23 No. 1 hits.

Pictured are (l-r): BMI’s David Preston, Tom Shapiro, and BMI’s Clay Bradley. Photo by Drew Maynard

Pictured are (l-r): BMI’s David Preston, Tom Shapiro, and BMI’s Clay Bradley. Photo by Drew Maynard

Global Repertoire Database On Track For 2015

grdMajor music rights stakeholders from around the world are working to build the first, single, comprehensive and authoritative representation of the global ownership and control of musical works.
On track to debut in 2015, the Global Repertoire Database (GRD) will offer improved music licensing processes for creators, publishers, collecting societies, and others, which is expected to save money currently lost to duplication in data processing.
Overseeing the project is the GRD Working Group, made up of representatives from 14 organizations including APRA, GEMA, PRS for Music, SACEM, STIM, CISAC, Sony/ATV/EMI Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing, Warner Chappell Music, ICMP, ECSA, Google, iTunes and Omnifone.
Supporting the project with funding, knowledge and access to their databases are ASCAP, BMI, APRA (Australia), BUMA (Netherlands), GEMA (Germany), PRS for Music (UK), STIM (Sweden), SACEM (France), SOCAN (Canada), SABAM (Belgium), SGAE (Spain), SIAE (Italy) and UBC (Brazil).
The project recently commenced its Requirements and Design Phase, running from October 2012 to late May 2013. This phase includes:
• Business Requirements, Rules and Readiness: Development of the GRD’s functional and non functional requirements and rules;
• Data Standards and Schemas: Definition of GRD standards for works, agreements and repertoire mandates, and definition of the GRD logical data model;
• Technology Blueprint: Definition of the logical technology architecture for the GRD solution;
• Data Assessments and Strategy: Development of data dashboards and the delivery of data assessments of selected existing copyright systems;
• GRD Business Design and Setup: Design of critical business processes, the development of GRD performance measures and business plan, enrichment of the agreed Governance framework and support to the set up of the GRD legal entity.
More information at globalrepertoiredatabase.com.

Industry Ink (1/28/13)

AdamWright1

Adam Wright


Singer-songwriter Adam Wright has signed with Frank Liddell‘s Carnival Music.
“Adam is highly regarded as a talented songwriter, artist and multi-instrumentalist,” said Liddell. “He has been working with other Carnival writers for a while, so it makes perfect sense that he is now a member of the family. He is going to make great music for many years and we are excited he will be making it at Carnival.”
Wright currently has a Grammy nomination for Best Country Song for Alan Jackson‘s “So You Don’t Have To Love Me Anymore.”

 • • •

josey milner1

Josey Milner


MTS Management Group’s Josey Milner has signed with HGN Entertainment for regional club bookings and promotion. The Livingston, Texas-based agency will handle upcoming club bookings in Texas, Missouri and surrounding states. HGN will also be promoting Josey to local media outlets.
“We’re excited to be working with Jason McClelland and the folks at HGN,” said Michael Stover of MTS Management Group. “They’ve got a very talented stable of artists. Josey’s single [“Not Pretty Enough”] is doing very well at radio right now, and we hope to capitalize on the airplay, by getting her on the road very soon.”

• • •

Pictured (L-R) Nancy Peacock, Shelton and Shelton's manager David Polemeni.

Pictured (L-R) Nancy Peacock, Shelton and Shelton’s manager David Polemeni.


Fifteen-year-old actor Uriah Shelton visited Nashville recently. Shelton, who co-stars on the A&E drama “The Glades” and WIGS network webisode “Blue” starring Julia Stiles, signed up with the Country Music Association during his visit.
He looks forward to meeting fans at the upcoming CMA Music Festival.
 

• • •

Patrick Joseph Music has signed 21-year-old songwriter Jake Mitchell. Mitchell has had cuts for Austin Webb, including Webb’s first single, “It’s All Good.”

Pictured (L-R): Pat Higdon (Patrick Joseph Music), Jake Mitchell (seated) and Matt Pincus (Songs Music Publishing)

Pictured (L-R): Pat Higdon (Patrick Joseph Music), Jake Mitchell (seated) and Matt Pincus (Songs Music Publishing)