Industry Ink Tuesday

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New Mercury artist Canaan Smith visited MusicRow yesterday to delight the staff with songs from upcoming album, including current single "We Got Us."

• The Copyright Society of the South has named its 2012 Board of Directors. Officers are: President John Barker (ClearBox Rights), VP John Rolfe (Rolfe Entertainment Law), Secretary Kele Currier (ole Music and Media), and Treasurer Casey McGinty (EMI Christian Music Group). New board member at large Jill Napier joins incumbents Amy Cranford (Amy Cranford Consulting), Dan Ekback (Platinum Pen Publishing), Ted Goldthrope (Sony/ATV Music Publishing), Misha Hunke (BMI) and Bob Mather (EMI Music Publishing).

• Save the Date: The 2012 Leadership Music Digital Summit will be Wed., April 25 in Nashville. The announcement was made recently on Twitter. Visit the LMDS Facebook page.

• A new songwriters series the Saturday Night Music Club has launched in Franklin. Last Saturday’s (2/4) edition featured Marty Dodson, Melissa Fuller, and Steven Clawson with special guest Michael Logen. The shows are presented by Gasoline Studios at The West Barn, 4526 Gosey Lane, Franklin, TN 37064. Each week’s proceeds go to charity. Other recent performers include Jimmy Wayne, Wynn Varble, Blaine Larson, and Joey & Rory. Tickets are $20 each. Details by emailing here or visiting the Facebook page.

• DeeJay Silver, who spins tunes between sets on Jason Aldean’s tour, has signed with booking agent Kevin Neal of Buddy Lee Attractions, Ken Madson of Average Joes Management, and Carri Hyde & NVRDUL for endorsement/sponsorship representation.

• An upcoming benefit, The Songs of our Lives & the Writers Who Wrote Them, will feature L. Russell Brown (“Tie A Yellow Ribbon ‘Round the Ole Oak Tree”), Roger Cook (“I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing”), Larry Henley (“Wind Beneath My Wings”), Rafe Van Hoy (“Golden Ring”), and Kerry Kurt Phillips (“I Don’t Need Your Rockin’ Chair”). The concert is Sat., Feb. 18, 7:00 p.m. at West Nashville United Methodist Church to benefit the Parent’s Day Out program. Details and tickets, $27.50, at www.westnashvilleumc.com or by calling 615-297-3216.

• Songwriter, publisher, veteran ASCAP executive, and author Ralph Murphy will hold a book signing and discussion about his newest release Murphy’s Laws of Songwriting, The Book on Wed., Feb. 8, 5:00 p.m. at Two Old Hippies store in the Gulch.

• Songwriters Danny Myrick (Root 49 Music), the JaneDear Girls’ Danelle Leverett (Sony/ATV Tree) and Tim James (Warner/Chappell) co-wrote “Good Girls Gone Bad,” which was recorded by the JaneDear Girls and is being used on promotional spots for ABC’s upcoming series, GCB.

• Local company DWP Live was behind part of the on-field production during the Super Bowl half-time show. More from The Tennessean.

• Rascal Flatts bassist and vocalist Jay DeMarcus and his wife Allison, a former Miss Tennessee and a current CMT personality, are anticipating the birth of their second child this summer. The baby will join their one-year-old Madeline Leigh.

• GoodStuff PR owner Shari Lacy has joined Williamson Social Magazine as Managing Editor. Lacy will continue to operate GoodStuff.

Orbison Enterprises Under New Leadership

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Orbison Enterprises is under new leadership following the late 2011 death of Barbara Orbison. Barbara and Roy Orbison’s sons Alex and Roy Jr. have taken the helm and will be directing the family estate, catalog, and publishing companies.

Roy Jr. will be responsible for managing the Roy Orbison estate and catalog. Most recently he and Barbara co-produced the box set Roy Orbison: The Soul of Rock and Roll. Alex will oversee the operation of the Still Working/Orbison Music publishing companies. The company includes songwriters such as Tommy Lee James, Terry McBride, Annie-Rose and Chase Yaklin.

“Orbison Music is stronger than ever,” said Alex. “We have represented an impressive team of songwriters and we’ll continue to expand our roster. I’m looking forward to announcing more new signings in the near future.”

Wesley Orbison, Roy’s son from his first marriage, is focusing on the release of his debut album and his involvement with Orbison Enterprises will be announced later.

In a joint statement, Roy Jr. and Alex said, “Our mother was a respected member of the international music business community. She was passionate about keeping our father’s legacy alive and she was passionate about her ‘family’ of songwriters. We look forward to continuing and further developing her vision in the years ahead.”

Billy Ray Cyrus To Publish Memoir

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Billy Ray Cyrus plans to release his memoir, Hillbilly Heart [Amazon publishing] in hardcover and ebook formats in the Spring 2013.

“This is my chance to set the record straight,” said Cyrus. “I realized that over the years that there have been untruths and misconceptions about me, my music, my life, my family and our dreams. I’m going to lay out the facts starting from August 25th, 1961 and work my way to the present, even if it stings a little.”

Cyrus will open up about the life-changing success of his first album, the toll that fame has taken on his personal life and family and the challenges of parenting his superstar daughter Miley Cyrus.

The book will chronicle from the age of 5 when Cyrus took the stage with his father’s gospel quartet, The Crownsmen, and by 20, an inner voice told him he would find his life purpose through music if he bought a guitar and started a band. Cyrus found he was “too country” for L.A., and “too rock” for Nashville, but regardless he shot to No. 1 with his breakout smash single, “Achy Breaky Heart.”

Myers Departs Still Working/Orbison Music [Updated Email]

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More changes are happening in the Nashville publishing world, as Clay Myers has departed his post as VP and GM of Barbara Orbison’s Still Working Music and Orbison Music LLC publishing companies. He had served with the company for 10 years.

Prior to Barbara Orbison’s death in December 2011, she and Myers enjoyed a decade of success that included the 2010 BMI Song of the Year for Taylor Swift’s “You Belong With Me.”

Myers can be reached at [email protected].

Shelby Kennedy, Lynn Gann Join Wide Open Music

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Shelby Kennedy

Derek George, President of publishing and artist development company Wide Open Music Group, is pleased to announce the addition of Shelby Kennedy as Sr. VP and Lynn Gann as VP, Publishing.

George, a songwriter and musician, co-founded Wide Open Music Group with Steve Williams. In its first year alone, the company secured cuts by Danny Gokey, Love and Theft, Bryan White, Carolyn Dawn Johnson and more.

“I’m so happy to have Shelby and Lynn on board,” said George. “They are the perfect guys to have on our team as we expand our publishing and artist management/development opportunities. I’m really excited about our new direction and Wide Open’s future in the industry.”

Kennedy brings a distinguished 25-year background in songwriting, publishing and production to the Wide Open team. He was most recently Sr. Vice President/COO at Cherry Heart Music, and has also held posts at ASCAP, BMI, and Lyric Street Records. His father is legendary guitarist and record executive Jerry Kennedy, and his brothers are songwriters Gordon and Bryan Kennedy. “I am looking forward to creating opportunities in this new frontier of our industry, where doing business as usual is expanded to the unusual,” said Kennedy. “I am proud to be on a team that can live up to its name…Wide Open.”

Lynn Gann

Gann also brings almost 25 years of experience to his new post as Vice President of the company’s publishing division. Beginning his career at Tom Collins Music, he later worked at MCA Music Publishing and Zomba Enterprises before joining Full Circle Music Publishing as Vice President/Partner in 2003. During his eight-year stint at Full Circle, he was responsible for hits such as Kenny Chesney’s “Boys of Fall,” Brad Paisley’s “When I Get Where I’m Going” and the recent hit “Old Alabama.” He said, “I am excited to be working with such a talented and forward-thinking group of writers, artists and executives.”

Wide Open Music Group is located at 54 Music Sq. E., Ste. 390, Nashville, TN. Visit them online at www.wideopenmusicgroup.com.

Tom-Leis and Love Monkey Music Name New Creative Director

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Alex Heddle has been named Creative Director for Love Monkey Music and Tom-Leis Music, where he will be responsible for managing and plugging the catalogs of Bob DiPiero, Sarah Buxton, Amanda Flynn, Kimberly June, and Brandon Kinney. Heddle replaces Penny Everhard, who recently moved to BMI.

“I’m here to help the writers grow creatively and professionally,” says Heddle of his new position. “I’m aggressively pursuing opportunities for each writer and promoting the heck out of their respective catalogs.”

Heddle was previously with Writer’s Den Music Group, where he managed a writer staff including Adam Wright, Ronnie Rogers, Tami Hinesh, Ben Cooper, and Bonnie Bishop. Prior to that, he helped launch Propel Music as Creative Director, after previously worked same position at Ash Street Music in 2005. He is a 2008 graduate of Belmont University with a degree in Business Administration.

Alex can be congratulated at [email protected] or [email protected].

MIDEM: The Final Day

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Belmont University professor Don Cusic reports exclusively for MusicRow from MIDEM in Cannes.

The final day at MIDEM (1/31) brought snow to the normally warm and sunny south of France. Inside the Palais was a series of morning seminars geared toward publishers.

(L-R) Emmanuel Legrand (moderator); Scott Bagby, Rdio; Richard Conlon, BMI; Thierry Desurmont, SACEM; Charlie Lexton, Merlin; Ben McEwen, PRS for Music; Mitch Rubin, Nokia; Jens-Markus Wegener, AMV Talpa

The morning began with a seminar titled “The Cloud—Is It Just a Licensing Issue?” On the panel were Scott Bagby, with RDIO (UK); Richard Conlon, SVP with BMI (USA); Thierry Desurmont, with SACEM (France); Charlie Lexton with Merlin (UK); Ben McEwen with PRS for Music (UK); Mitch Rubin with Nokia; and Jens Markus Wegener with AMV Talpa (Germany). The moderator was Emmanuiel Legrand, an independent journalist from UK.

At the end of the seminar, Lexton said, “Our job is to turn the cloud into a licensing issue and make it easy to license.”

The general consensus for how the cloud, or more accurately “clouds” since they are individual, will influence the next generation of the music industry includes how to license and compensate content. There is concern that the cloud is a laundromat for illegal files and no regulations exist to keep these illegal files out of the cloud.

Bagby said the essential problem is the struggle between record labels and publishers. “We should be one big family,” he explained, “but there’s a lot of people to make happy and that gets complicated, so labels and publishers blame each other.”

Both sides of the technology industry wished there was one place to get rights cleared. Rubin said, “You don’t buy a car, then buy the engine and then the seats. We don’t care how the payment gets dished out but the current system makes it inherently difficult to negotiate for one right with many rights holders.”

Conlon noted, “Silicon Valley thinks we’re nuts but we’re trying to manage velocity and the speed of innovation.”

"Towards the Global Repertoire Database" panel. (L-R) Steven Navin, Music Publishers Association; Michel Allain, SACEM; Jez Bell, Omnifone; Karen Buse, PRS for Music; Jane Dyball, Warner Chappell Music; Ralph Peer II, peermusic; Sami Valkonen, Android/Google

Another session, “Towards the Global Repertoire Database (GRD),” featured panelists Michel Allain with SACEM (France), Jex Bell with Omnifone (UK), Karen Buse with PRS for Music (UK), Jane Dyball Warner Chappell (UK), Ralph Peer II with peermusic (USA) and Sami Valkonen with Google (USA), and moderator Stephen Navin with MPA (UK). Valkonen noted, “The world is moving towards a repertoire based database. Today there are different databases in different countries, which is hugely ineffective.”

Peer mentioned the effort to institute a GDB has been going on for several years. “The strength of the GRD is that it levels the playing fields for all rights involved,” he said. “We spend enormous amounts of resources checking databases around the world. This would create a single accurate database to help small publishers and composers get their money faster. An inherent weakness is that it’s always going to be a work in progress, there will be new material to be logged. We need to get data in immediately and that will be challenging when a hot new song comes from a hot new artist and there’s a lot of revenue generated quickly.”

Valkonen (Google) noted, “The real threat to GRD is that we started in 2008 and it is now 2012 and we’re still in a scoping study. This could be a carousel that keeps going ’round.”

Dyball (Warner Chappell) said, “With a GRD, songwriters will only have to look one place to make sure everything is correct. We waste a lot of time checking registrations around the world. Counter-claims always come up and we need to direct people into creative revenue generating activities because that’s how we will grow our business.”

All panelists agreed that the project must go forward, and Bell (UK) said, “If nothing goes through, there will be more pain in administration and songwriters will not be paid quickly and effectively.”

In the final seminar, “Measuring the Impact of Music Marketing Campaigns,” Sarah Lewin, editor of Sandbox, answered how exactly to measure music campaigns, “Establish clear objectives or goals.” This includes everything from money earned to names added to an email list.

Lewin summarized effective marketing as: (1) keep it simple, (2) set a budget, (3) work towards viral-ity on the internet, (4) think about your audience and (5) copy and adapt other successful campaigns.

Combustion Hosts Hit Songwriter Showcase

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Pictured (L-R) front row: Ashley Gorley, Matthew West, Chase Foster, and Kelly Archer. Back row: Matt Jenkins, Chris Van Belkom, Chris Farren, Kenley Flynn, Blair Daly, Brett James, Zach Crowell, Colt Chamberlain, and Will Bowen. Photo: Dan Dziesinski

On Tues., Jan. 24 Combustion Music hosted an intimate songwriter showcase at Gary Allan’s new clothing store, The Label. Combustion writers Ashley Gorley, Blair Daly, Brett James, Matthew West, Kelly Archer, Matt Jenkins, Will Bowen, and Chase Foster, as well as special guest Sarah Buxton, played to a room full of producers, record label personnel and artists including Allan, the JaneDear Girls, and Republic Nashville new signee Jackie Lee.

Combustion, a partnership with Warner/Chappell Music, has six singles on the country charts, including the No. 1 pop smash “Mr. Know It All” by Kelly Clarkson (written by Brett James), and Carrie Underwood’s new single “Good Girl” (written by Ashley Gorley).

The event was the brainchild of Combustion’s Creative Manager Kenley Flynn and newcomer Colt Chamberlain, and was executed with the help of Renee Layher of The Label, and Chaise Crosslin of Lytle Management.

Google Currents Latest In Magazine-Style RSS Reader Offerings

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An emerging breed of mobile news apps offering a magazine-style experience with bolted-on social media functionality are jockeying for consumer love across mobile phones and tablets. Flipboard was one of the first of these visually-enhanced RSS readers, but there are several others such as Zite, Pulse and Yahoo!‘s Livestand. The newest entry making a splash is Google Currents which became available in the U.S. last December. The app is available for Android and IOS platforms on both mobile phones and tablets. (I took it for a test drive on my iPad2 and Infuse 4G Android phone.)

Each of the apps has various strengths and weaknesses, but to find the best fit for your needs requires a moment of introspection about what you want in a news app. Is recreating the visual magazine style experience important to you? How many news outlets do you want to consult on a regular basis? If the number of outlets is high but photos are less important, then you may be better served with a more bare-bones RSS reader.

Another apps feature that doesn’t seem to get discussed often is the ability to be used as a social networking tool. Large numbers of people are now consuming news via social networks. Why? Because that is where they are spending the majority of their time online. That means people are reading, commenting and/or sharing stories their friends and followers have posted that came from other news sources.

If you are a social networker trying to populate your accounts with engaging stories and information, posting news stories offers a great way to accomplish that goal. Especially when you consider the amount of content needed to keep up with your Twitter, Facebook (personal and pages), Google Plus, Pinterest, LinkedIn accounts and maybe a few others. Wow! So a major question also has to be, “Will this program facilitate posting to all my networks?” But first let’s see how the news part works.

My first reaction to Google Currents included a few ooohhs and ahhhs. The photos and fonts create an appealing visual experience and the icons and interface are largely intuitive. The graphical interface is nicely configured and respectful of screen real estate. An added feature, being part of the Google world, is that you can sign in with your Gmail account and the program will sync across all your other devices.

News gets divided into “Library,” which includes all the sources you have added, or “Trending” which is a breaking news feed. “Trending” is also unique because after you click on a headline you are shown a variety of headlines from different publications having to do with that topic. Ultimately, this can result in a lot of clicking as you track down stories on various sites that perhaps are not part of Currents’ 180 partners that offer full length stories on the app. However, it is a great way to make sure you aren’t missing anything, and I suspect many people don’t read past the sub-headline on a lot of stories anyway.

OK, so what’s not to like? Sharing. Firstly, the sharing interface is different between Android and IOS versions. It also does not make posting to G+, Google’s own network, especially robust. Facebook on the other hand works smoothly. Surely, these issues will soon be addressed.

Given the fact that Currents is free and represents a new type of app, I would encourage you, if you haven’t yet explored these magazine-style news readers, to at least give it a try,

As for me, I don’t want to swim against the Current, but there’s something I just love about the speed and simplicity of Google Reader which syncs across all devices, works on the desktop, channels hundreds of news outlets and has great sharing chops. If it ain’t broke…

CISAC Global Economic Survey Shows Growth

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The International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC) has released the results of its annual Global Economic Survey for 2010. The survey was based on data provided by CISAC members totaling 232 societies in 121 countries.

The findings reveal that gross royalty collections climbed €7.5 billion, a 5.5% increase from the 2009 totals. This marks a second year of growth for collections, as 2009 saw a rise of 1.7% over the previous year.

“These positive results show the solidity and efficiency of the international network of authors’ societies represented by CISAC,” said the confederation’s Director General Olivier Hinnewinkel. “Here is proof that collective management is the solution for today and tomorrow, generating wealth for creators while withstanding economic changes and supporting digital music markets.”

The data also shows that public performance royalty is still the bread and butter for creators and publishers, as it comprised 73% of collections or €5.5 billion. Radio and TV performance made up the predominant source of public performances at 56%, followed by the phonographic industry at 23.4%. Digital collection is still small on a global basis but is a growth area having accounted for 1.7% of public performances.

“IFPI recently reported that major international digital music services such as iTunes, Spotify and Deezer are now present in 58 countries,” said Mr Hinnewinkel, “compared to only 23 at the start of 2011. CISAC members are now well placed to develop this market as it expands.”