Alex Heddle has recently been added to the team at Writer’s Den Music Group as Catalog Manager/Song Plugger. Heddle formerly oversaw all creative aspects at Propel Music, where he spent the past two years.
“We are thrilled to have someone with Alex’s experience and enthusiasm as a part of our group,” says Head of Publishing, Bobby Rymer. “We look forward to working together as we continue to grow the company.”
The Crystal Ball began flashing this morning, offering only an incomplete message as is its wanton way. The data source from the Shiny Globe seemed to flow from our industry’s publishing sphere, showing an imminent departure. While we are unable to pull the rabbit from our info chapeau, it seems that this 30-year industry veteran has a resume that includes A&R, artist management, concert promotion and TV production. Her past signings include this year’s top CMA nominee..
Black River Music Publishing has signed Due West member Brad Hull to a publishing deal. “Brad originally came to Nashville to pursue songwriting and I am happy he found a home here at Black River Music Publishing,” stated Celia Froehlig, VP BRMP. Due West will release a new CD on Nov. 23. The group’s single “Bible And The Belt” is No. 48 on MusicRow’s CountryBreakout chart.
(L-R) Jimmy Nichols, BRMG President; Brad Hull; and Celia Froehlig, VP BRMG Publishing.
Leadership Music and the Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law will co-host a Legal symposium titled, “The Evolution of Entertainment Law and Industry in the New world: Where do We Go From Here?” The day-long event will be held Tuesday, September 28, 2010 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. in Vanderbilt Law School’s Flynn Auditorium. The event carries 5.33 hours of Tennessee CLE credit.
“The symposium is a must-attend for anyone interested in the vital issues facing the music industry today such as copyright and intellectual property,” said Karen Oertley, Executive Director of Leadership Music.
Expected to participate are Cary Sherman (RIAA); David Israelite (NMPA), songwriter Eddie Schwartz; Michael Huppe, SoundExchange; David Carson, U.S. Copyright Office; Shira Perlmutter, International Federation of the Phonographic Industry; Tim DuBois, ASCAP; and Linda Bloss-Baum, Warner Music Group. Leading academics are also scheduled to speak.
To register, visit www.lmvu.eventbrite.com. In order to receive CLE credit, attendees will pay the general admission fee at www.lmvu.eventbrite.com and bring a separate check for $200 to the event. There will be a CLE registration table on site to record attendees’ hours. The TCCLES course # is 097396 and checks should be made out to Vanderbilt JET Law.
MTSU’s Department of Recording Industry and the Nashville office of ASCAP are helping to turn education into careers with a successful commercial songwriting partnership, “Partners in Craft.” The two-year old program, which pairs veteran songwriting and publishing mentors with students majoring in songwriting, will celebrate with a special gathering on Friday, Sept. 24. Representatives from the ASCAP and MTSU’s recording-industry program will toast the success of the partnership with a press conference at tomorrow’s (9/24) mentors’ meeting at the ASCAP building at 2 Music Square West.
Partners in Craft grew out of a long relationship between ASCAP and the Department of Recording Industry, said MTSU Assistant Professor Hal Newman. Talented students, in the past, would pass through the university’s internationally recognized program and set their own career paths. Partners in Craft, which led to the commercial songwriting concentration for recording industry majors, has provided networking and training opportunities as well as specialized courses tailored to students’ career goals. Newman’s songwriting classes also are part of MTSU’s program, which merges classroom knowledge with real-world work environments.
Hal Newman
“It’s really helped my classes learn, and it gives our students a distinct advantage,” said Newman, one of the creators of Partners in Craft and the coordinator of the department’s commercial songwriting concentration. “We’re only in our fourth full semester of this program and we already have 53 student majors. We’ve had eight successful internships, and our ninth and 10th students have their songwriting internships this semester. I’m excited about working with the new team at ASCAP and very happy with the interest in the partnership and the efforts to maintain and strengthen our relationship.”
Several MTSU graduates already have found songwriting success; one of the most recent is Eric Paslay, whose internship at Cal IV Entertainment helped refine his songwriting abilities and turned into a publishing contract. The 2005 MTSU graduate is close to signing a record deal with a major label and is now being booked by the William Morris Agency.
Tim DuBois, ASCAP Nashville’s new Vice President and Managing Executive, is “very excited about our program,” Newman said, adding that the company recently put its new Creative Manager, Ryan Beuschel, in charge of coordinating the ASCAP end of Partners in Craft.
ASCAP continues to provide mentors to guide Partners in Craft students through the songwriting process. This semester’s commercial songwriting mentors include producer-writer-artist-engineer Walt Aldridge, Greg Becker of Sony/Tree, Jon Nite of EMI, singer-songwriter Mando Saenz and MTSU alumnus Rich Karg, while the advanced-songwriting course mentors are Matthew Miller of Carnival Music, Freeman Wizer of Universal Music Publishing, MTSU alum B.J. Hill of Warner-Chappell Music, Sarah Johnson of Bug Music and Jesse Frassure of Major Bob Publishing.
ASCAP also hosts a showcase each semester, Hot on the Row, featuring MTSU student songwriters and attended by music-industry publishers. For more information visit http://recordingindustry.mtsu.edu.
Nashville Top Tunesmiths Pose for the Big Group Shot. Photos: Bev Moser
The Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) hosted industry professionals on Monday evening (9/20) for the World’s Largest #1 Party, presented by Avenue Bank and The Recording Academy® to celebrate veteran hitmakers and talented newcomers.
(L-R): Fred Foster (Maggie Cavender Award of Service) and Aubrey Preston (Stephen Foster Award) accepting their honors for dedication to the songwriting community and supporting NSAI.
NSAI Executive Director Bart Herbison and NSAI President, Grammy-nominated songwriter Steve Bogard kicked off the festivities with two organizational awards – the Stephen Foster Award (in recognition of generous support for – and dedication to – songwriters, the music industry and NSAI) to Williamson County entrepreneur Aubrey Preston, and the Maggie Cavender Award of Service (in recognition of extraordinary service to the songwriting community) to legendary producer/Monument Records founder Fred Foster.
Throughout the ceremony Avenue Bank Senior Vice President Ron Cox and The Recording Academy President/CEO Neil Portnow presented awards to honor songwriters from the past year for their chart-topping tunes. Several stellar songwriter/artist pairings received accolades, such as Tom Douglas with Lady Antebellum, Brett James with Carrie Underwood, Cory Batten & Kent Blazy with Chris Young, Shawn Mullins with Zac Brown, Ryan Tedder with Kelly Clarkson, Liz Rose with Taylor Swift and Ammo & Pebe Sebert with Ke$ha. Douglas and James each earned a total of three awards making them the top achievers of the year. For more information, visit nashvillesongwriters.com.
(L-R): NSAI President Steve Bogard, The Recording Academy President/CEO Neil Portnow, “Hillbilly Bone” co-writers Craig Wiseman, Luke Laird and Avenue Bank Senior Vice President Ron Cox.
Full List of Winners:
• Rory Lee Feek, Don Poythress, Wynn Varble (“A Little More Country Than That” – Easton Corbin)
• Kelly Clarkson, Ryan Tedder (“Already Gone” – Kelly Clarkson)
• Frank Rogers, Darius Rucker (“Alright” – Darius Rucker)
• Cary Barlowe, Hillary Lindsey, Shane Stevens (“American Honey – Lady Antebellum)
• Dave Pahanish, Joe West (“American Ride” – Toby Keith)
• Jim Collins, David Lee Murphy (“Big Green Tractor” – Jason Aldean)
• Steve Diamond, Marv Green (“Consider Me Gone” – Reba McEntire)
• Mike Elizondo, Brett James, Carrie Underwood (“Cowboy Casanova” – Carrie Underwood)
• Cory Batten, Kent Blazy, Chris Young (“Gettin’ You Home (The Black Dress Song)” – Chris Young)
• Rhett Akins, Dallas Davidson, Ben Hayslip (“Gimmie That Girl” – Joe Nichols)
• Zac Brown, Wyatt Durrette (“Highway 20 Ride” – Zac Brown Band)
• Luke Laird, Craig Wiseman (“Hillbilly Bone” – Blake Shelton/Trace Adkins)
• Tom Douglas, Dave Haywood, Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott (“I Run To You” – Lady Antebellum)
• Rollo Armstrong, Mark Bates, Harlan Howard, Kristian Leontiou (“Kandi” – One eskimO)
• Dave Haywood, Josh Kear, Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott (“Need You Now” – Lady Antebellum)
• Steve McEwan, John Reid (“Only You Can Love Me This Way” – Keith Urban)
• Bobby Braddock, Troy Jones (“People Are Crazy” – Billy Currington)
•
Agnes Carlsson, Anders Hansson, Sharon Vaughn (“Release Me” – Agnes)
• Jim Beavers, Dierks Bentley (“Sideways” – Dierks Bentley)
• Brian Dean Maher, Justin Moore, Jeremy Stover (“Small Town USA” – Justin Moore)
• Bob DiPiero, Tom Douglas (“Southern Voice” – Tim McGraw)
• Luke Laird, Zac Maloy, Carrie Underwood (“Temporary Home” – Carrie Underwood)
• Billy Currington, Dallas Davidson, Brett Jones (“That’s How Country Boys Roll” – Billy Currington)
• Jessi Alexander, Jon Mabe (“The Climb” – Miley Cyrus)
• Tom Douglas, Allen Shamblin (“The House That Built Me” – Miranda Lambert)
• Brett James, Tim Nichols (“The Man I Want To Be” – Chris Young)
• Brett James, Ashley Monroe (“The Truth” – Jason Aldean)
• Dr. Luke, Benny Blanco, Ke$ha (“TiK ToK” – Ke$ha)
• Zac Brown, Wyatt Durrette, John Hopkins, Shawn Mullins (“Toes” – Zac Brown Band)
• Caleb Followill, Jared Followill, Matthew Followill, Nathan Followill (“Use Somebody” – Kings of Leon)
• Jim Beavers, Darrell Brown, Jonathan Singleton (“Why Don’t We Just Dance” – Josh Turner)
• Liz Rose, Taylor Swift (“You Belong With Me” – Taylor Swift)
• Ammo, Pebe Sebert, Ke$ha (“Your Love Is My Drug” – Ke$ha)
Wrensong/Reynsong reports it has re-signed Ashley Monroe to a new publishing deal.
(L-R) Ashley Monroe and Wrensong President Ree Guyer Buchanan
Bo Bice stopped into the WKLB Boston Country 102.5 studio for a live webcast last week, where he played songs from his latest album ‘3’, including the current country single “You Take Yourself With You” and answered some questions with morning show host Lori Grande.
(L-R) New School Entertainment's Chris Borchetta, WKLB Intern Ashley Cook, morning show host Lori Grande, Bice, WKLB MD Ginny Rogers and WKLB Promotion Director Dawn Santolucito.
Ed Salamon and Chairman Jeff Cohen. (PRNewsFoto/Savannah Music Group)
Ed Salamon has been named chief executive officer of Savannah Music Group, effective Oct. 1. Salamon approached SMG President Dave Gibson after Savannah took the unprecedented step among music publishing companies and record labels of opposing mandatory Performance Rights fee legislation. Since both believe that proposed legislation could reduce the amount of music played on radio and be especially damaging to small independent companies like SMG, the veteran broadcast executive offered his help. Having known Salamon from his days as namesake of the Gibson-Miller Band and pleased to find a like-minded executive with a broad background in the music industry, Gibson introduced Salamon to Savannah Music Group Chairman Jeff Cohen.
“Ed is one of the most dynamic and well-connected people in the music industry,” says Cohen in making the appointment. “He has a great track record in the entertainment industry and with start ups, and we are pleased to have him lead Savannah Music Group.”
Salamon is former President-Programming of Westwood One Radio Network and a co-founder and partner with Dick Clark in the United Stations Radio Network. Most recently he served as Executive Director for Country Radio Broadcasters, Inc., the non-profit organization that presents the Country Radio Seminar (CRS).
Joel Katz
In a deal reportedly valued at $80 million, KKR-backed BMG Rights Management has gone shopping, gobbling Evergreen Copyright Acquisitions, its fourth company this year.
Earlier this year BMG Rights snagged Cherry Lane Music, Adage IV and Stage Three music.
Richard Perna
According to reports in the New York Post, Evergreen was founded in 2006 and owns rights to over 65,000 songs. It’s run by co-founder and co-CEO David Schulhof. Additional senior management includes Co-Chief Executive Richard Perna; co-founder and music lawyer Joel Katz; and Chief Financial Officer John Lipman, a principal, of Lehman Brothers Merchant Banking which provided the firm’s founding investment.
Schulhof and Perna, Co-CEOs of Evergreen, stated: “We are proud of the company we have built and thank all of the great songwriters and artists we’ve had the opportunity to work with. We wish to thank Trilantic Capital Partners for their unwavering support as we built Evergreen into the well-established global music publisher it is today. Most of all, we would like to thank all of our exceptional employees, without whom we could not have built this great company. We wish BMG continued success. We are very honored that they have selected Evergreen to join their growing family.”
Controlling Evergreen shareholder, Trilantic Capital Partners becomes a BMG co-investor under the deal, reports NYP.
Billboard reports, BMG Rights recently received equity injections of over $260 million for acquisitions from shareholders KKR investments and Bertelsmann.
UMPG Nashville hosted the UMPG Tailgate Party yesterday (9/15) celebrating the success of their songwriters over the past year. The event was held in the company’s Music Row parking lot. Pat Higdon and Kent Earls presented the Excellence in A&R Award to UMG Nashville’s Joe Fisher. UMPG Nashville’s Trent Summar and The New Row Mob turned in a rowdy and well received post-awards performance.
(l-r): UMPG Nashville President, Pat Higdon, UMPG Chairman and CEO, David Renzer and UMG Nashville Chairman, Luke Lewis. Photo by Tammy Helm
The Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA) has honored ole as Music Publisher of the Year for the 4th consecutive time. This marks the fourth win in the category in the six years since the company’s founding on September 28, 2004.
ole, one of the world’s largest independent music publishers, was also named CCMA Music Publisher of the Year in 2009 and 2008. Their win in 2007 was the first time in 15 years that an independent music publisher had won the category.
“We’re very thankful to receive this vote of confidence from the CCMA and our peers,” said ole CEO Robert Ott. “Our staff works tirelessly to produce success for our songwriters and partners and this acknowledges their effort. It’s our privilege to work with the best songwriters in the world on both sides of the border and their creativity has propelled us to unprecedented heights this year. It’s always gratifying to watch the growth of the CCMA and how it creates community around our great Canadian talent. We’re thankful to the CCMA and others in this community for their continued support.”
In Country, ole has nine active or pending U.S. singles including “Why Wait,” the lead single from Rascal Flatts’ upcoming Nothing Like This album; “I Will Stand By You,” The Judds’ new single; “Let Me Down Easy,” from Billy Currington’s upcoming fourth studio album; “Soldiers & Jesus” from the James Otto’s new album, Shake What God Gave Ya; “Our Kind of Love,” the current hit for Lady Antebellum; and Troy Olsen’s “Summer Thing.” Top 40 charting singles in Canada include Dean Brody’s “Roll That Barrel Out,” Doc Walker’s “From Here” and Jason Blaine’s “Run With Me.”
Over the past few months, ole has placed no less than 19 cuts including “Liar’s Lie,” performed by Lee Ann Womack and featured in Country Strong, the new Gwyneth Paltrow/Tim McGraw film; “Stay Up Late,” on the upcoming sophomore solo album by Heidi Newfield, and “Just Like Sunshine” and “Are Ya With Me?,” also on Otto’s upcoming album.
Current top country songs from ole’s songwriter roster and its Roots Three Music co-venture include “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me” (Doc Walker); “Now” (Steven Lee Olsen); “Free Like Love” (The Higgins); “Tumblin’ Tears” (One More Girl); “When You Can Fly” (Victoria Banks); “Watching You Walk Away” (Shane Yellowbird); “Fearless” (Taylor Swift); “Tailgate” (Jaydee Bixby); “A Father’s Love (The Only Way He Knew How)” (Bucky Covington); “Can’t Afford To Love You” (Blake Shelton); “A Lot To Learn About Living” (Easton Corbin); “Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven” (Kenny Chesney); and “I Will Stand By You” (High Valley).
Over the past few years, ole has become the country home of world-class songwriters including the recently-signed Monty Powell, Dean Brody, Charlie Worsham and Ryan Tyndell as well as Marty Dodson, Chris Wallin, Tebey, Gilles Godard, Roger Springer, Rick Giles, Bruce Wallace, Matt Nolen, Steven Lee Olsen and Doc Walker.