Writer’s Den Adds iPhone App

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Nashville’s Writer’s Den Music has become the first known music publishing company to launch an iPhone Application. Designed by Writer’s Den Music Group Internet Marketing staff member Adam Moore, the app allows subscribers to hear the latest demos from the company’s writers, find out where and when their writers are playing around Nashville, watch exclusive videos of their writers’ shows and read the current buzz on the company and writers. In addition, followers over 21 years of age will have the chance to score a free beer at one of their writer’s showcases if they find any of the company’s staffers; Bobby Rymer, Janice Jackson, Laura Wright or Adam Moore, and show them that you’ve got the app. Anyone who hasn’t met them can find pictures of them on the app.

“I’m excited that music industry insiders, artists and songwriters will have a new way to hear our catalog anytime, anywhere 24/7,” says Moore. “Literally having the latest demos at their fingertips!”

The app is available for free. With an iPhone or iPod Touch, users can download by searching the app store for Writer’s Den.
The Writer’s Den’s current roster of songwriters includes Bonnie Bishop, Ben Cooper, Tami Hinesh, Trent Jeffcoat and Adam Wright. The company has secured cuts and TV placements, including “Taillights Blue” from Alan Jackson’s new album Freight Train; “Rains Here Too” (Tami Hinesh with Kate York) recently featured on the CW Network’s One Tree Hill; “Courageous” (Ben Cooper and Melinda Schneider) recorded by both Olivia Newton John and Australian artist Melinda Schneider; and “I’m Gonna Make You Want To” (Tami Hinesh with Betsy Ulmer and Kelly Archer) recorded by Nathalia on Universal Records in Brazil.

File Sharing Site Disses UK’s Digital Economy Bill

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The UK recently enacted the Digital Economy Bill (Digital Economy Bill another report) to restrict music piracy by giving copyright holders the ability to “spy” on those infringing their rights via file sharing. The idea is that after being identified, the offending parties will then be disconnected from the Internet. In effect, this plan, which many in the U. S. champion, asks the ISPs to police copyrights by finding the identity of the pirates and shutting them off.

Torrentfreak.com, a site dedicated to bringing the latest news about BitTorrent and everything closely related to this popular filesharing protocol, notes the bill’s good intentions, but dismisses the new legislation as simply another misguided attempt to use DRM—digital rights management.

“It has already been shown numerous times that DRM has not prevented anyone from sharing files, and the Digital Economy Act – with all the extra powers it gives to copyright holders – wont be successful either,” writes Ernesto. “For those who don’t want to give up their habit of downloading copyrighted material, there are simply dozens of ways to download music and movies without being at risk. Much like DRM, the Act will not stop tech savvy file-sharers, it will only change the rules of the game.”

For a detailed report on why and how TorrentFreak.com believes that technology will render the bill useless read the story here.

ole Acquires Blacktop Music Catalog

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ole, one of the world’s largest independent music publishers, has acquired the approximately 4000-song strong music publishing catalog of Blacktop Music Group, Inc. along with its names, brands and trademarks.

Founded in 2001 by multi-platinum recording artist Clint Black, noted business manager Charles Sussman and veteran music publisher Mike Sebastian, Blacktop has been home to some of Nashville’s finest and most prolific hit songwriters.

The Blacktop Music Group roster has included writers Marty Dodson, Jimmy Yeary, Gary Lloyd, Rhean Boyer, Chuck Allen Floyd, Matt Nolen, Liz Hengber and Thom McHugh. The company also represents the catalogs of Michael Lunn, Lonnie Wilson, Rory Lee Feek, Larry Boone, Roger Brown, Roxie Dean and Rick Bowles.

Among the chart-toppers represented are Billy Currington’s “Must Be Doin’ Somethin’ Right” (Dodson/Matthews); Kenny Chesney’s “Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven” (Dodson/Collins); Blake Shelton’s “Some Beach” (Feek/Overstreet); Luke Bryan’s Top 5 hit “All My Friends Say” (Wilson/Bryan/Stevens); the Top 10 Lonestar single “Mountains” (Boone/Nelson/McDonald) as well as “A Man On A Tractor With A Dog In A Field” (Lunn/Agee) from Rodney Atkins’ platinum album, If You’re Going Through Hell.

“ole is pleased to have been chosen to take the great legacy created by Blacktop forward and we look forward to working hard for both the catalog songwriters and our new current roster additions who will join us at ole,” says ole Chief Creative Officer Gilles Godard.

Adds ole Chairman & CEO Robert Ott, “ole is proud to be part of the music community in Nashville and to support the art of songwriting.”

Sony/ATV Promotes Abbey Burkhalter

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Troy Tomlinson, President/CEO of Sony/ATV Music Publishing Nashville, has announced the promotion of Abbey Burkhalter to Creative Director. Formerly Creative Manager, Burkhalter joined Sony/ATV in February 2006. In the past four years, she has been responsible for a significant number of major recordings and singles, and has played an integral role as liaison between Sony/ATV’s Nashville roster and the publishing company’s Los Angeles and New York writers. Burkhalter will continue to report to Senior Vice President of Creative, Terry Wakefield.

BMI Fetes Dallas Davidson’s “Roll”

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On Monday, March 29, BMI celebrated yet another No. 1 song co-penned by Dallas Davidson. Recorded and co-written by Billy Currington, “That’s How Country Boys Roll” is Davidson’s third chart-topper on the heels of Brooks & Dunn’s “Put a Girl in It” and the Brad Paisley and Keith Urban collaboration “Start a Band.” His hot streak shows no signs of cooling: six of Davidson’s songs also are currently climbing charts.

(l-r): Parallel Entertainment’s John Dennis, UMG Nashville’s Luke Lewis, EMI Music Publishing’s Gary Overton, co-writers Brett Jones, Dallas Davidson and Billy Currington, producer Carson Chamberlain, and BMI’s Clay Bradley.

Chrysalis Acquires S1 Songs

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Chrysalis Music Publishing has announced its acquisition of Irish company First State Media Group, a music publishing firm with operations under the S1 Songs and State One Music brands. Included in the purchase is S1 Songs’ Nashville operation.

FSMG controls over 45,000 music copyrights including the catalogue of Sheryl Crow, the former Dreamworks Publishing catalogue – including “Leaving on a Jetplane,” and “Take Me Home Country Roads” (John Denver), “Disco Inferno” (The Tramps) and “Somebody to Love” (Jefferson Airplane), “Superstar” (The Carpenters). Among the hits to have emerged from S1’s Nashville office are Easton Corbin’s “A Little More Country Than That,” Joey + Rory’s “Cheater Cheater,” Dierks Bentley’s “Feel That Fire” and Jake Owen’s “Eight Second Ride.”

As a result of the transaction, Chrysalis will manage music copyright assets worth in excess of $155 million. The acquisition positions Chrysalis as a significant partner for investors interested in stable music copyright assets.
The acquisition is being fully funded from Chrysalis’ existing facilities.

Bobby Karl Works The Tin Pan Kick-Off Party

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The Consortium’s Mike Martinovich, NSAI’s Susan Myers, Regions Bank’s Lisa Harless and hit songwriter Brian White (“Watching You”). All photos by Bev Moser

Chapter 335

A pre-party works much better.

Until a couple of years ago, Tin Pan South celebrated its successes with post-event bashes. Now it has a kick-off party that catches people while they’re still fresh for the fray. What’s more, it is a top-notch bash.

Staged by presenting sponsor Region’s Bank on Monday (3/29), the event featured yummy catering and an A-list crowd.

NSAI’s Susan Myers, ole’s Robert Ott, wife Robin, ole songwriter Chris Wallin (“Don’t Blink”) and ole’s Shane Barrett gather to celebrate the start of Tin Pan South.

I met Guy Gilchrist, which was a thrill. “Guy, who?” you ask. He is the cartoonist behind Nancy, the one who puts country stars names on the fronts of Aunt Fritzi Ritz’s tight, well-endowed shirts in the comic strip. It turns out that (1) he’s a Nashville resident and (2) is a country songwriter. Who knew? Anyway, he looks kinda like a kindly country outlaw with his long hair and big cowboy hat.

When I looked at the newspaper this morning next to the comic strip, sure enough, his web address is guygilchristmusic.com. And when you go there, you can hear him singing and have the opportunity to buy his debut EP. Go for it, buddy.

Also in the crowd were such out-of-town tunesmiths as Steve Dorff (“I Cross My Heart,” “Heartland”) and Eric Kaz (“Cry Like a Rainstorm,” “Love Has No Pride”).

Another visiting from out of town was Ken Paulson, the CEO of the Freedom Forum, Newseum and Diversity Institute in D.C. Ken is preparing a gala to honor Mary Chapin Carpenter there, and he had a very good question for Erika Wollam Nichols: “How do you tell who to let in from the online/blogosphere community?” “That’s a very good question, and I don’t know the answer,” sez I. “You’ll have to ask a publicist.” Where was attendee Kay Clary when we needed her? Does anyone else know the answer to this?

We noted such stellar Nashville songwriting names as Fred Knobloch, Buzz Cason, Liz Hengber (she has the new Bucky Covington single), Wood Newton, James Dean Hicks, Tim DuBois, Todd Cerney and Liz Rose. Songwriter Jimbeau Hinson and his wife Brenda (the Midsouth Exteriors TV lady) Fielder were also working the room.

I was happy to congratulate Will Kimbrough on his super new CD Wings. Check out his highly personable EPK on his website.

Trent Summar (Jack Ingram’s “Free” and “Love You”) reports that he has signed with Universal as a tunesmith. His wife, Casey Gill Summar, is the executive director of Tennessee Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, which gives legal aid to underprivileged songwriters, musicians, filmmakers, visual artists and such. Isn’t that a worthy thing?

“I never see you at Music Row parties,” said Alan Rhody wryly. “That’s because you never go to any,” I replied, to which he heartily agreed, laughing.

Songwriters Trent Jeffcoat (The Writer’s Den Music Group) and Billy Worley (Memphis Music Association).

If you thought the BMI and ASCAP lobbies were echo chambers, let me introduce you to the marble-and-glass lobby of Regions Bank. As the event progressed, the place became deafeningly loud.

But there were definitely compensations. Lisa Harless informed us that the party was (brilliantly) catered by Maggiano’s. We dined on shish-ka-bobs, meatballs, prosciutto-wrapped melon, asparagus and other roasted veggies, plus lox, capers and hard boiled eggs, among more delights. One table groaned under a bounty of cookies, tortes, puddings, fruits, brownies, cakes, bon-bons and chocolate-covered strawberries.

Bart Herbison, Mark Brown, Mark Ford, Mike Sistad, Mike Martinovich, Alan Mayor, Al Schiltz, Leslie Tomasino DiPiero, Bobby Tomberlin (“One More Day,” plus singing on TV’s The Singing Bee), Sherrill Blackman, Joyce Simans, Charlie Monk, Preshias Tomes, Jim Schmidt, Jon Freeman and Trent Jeffcoat schmoozed. So now it is official: The 18th annual Tin Pan South Songwriters Festival is off and running. Have fun!

CEO Group Spotlights Music City Publishing Mechanics

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Josh Kear (with mic) addresses a meeting of CEOs from the World Presidents' Organization about songwriting and publishing in Nashville. Also in attendance at the on March 4, Los Angeles gathering were Kear's Big Yellow Dog publishers Carla Wallace (L) and Kerry O'Neil (R).

“World Presidents’ Organization (http://www.WPO.org) is composed of CEOs,” says Big Yellow Dog co-owner Kerry O’Neil. “About one third of them are entrepreneurs, a third run significant family businesses and the others have become CEOs or key executives through large corporations. The group’s recent March 4 meeting was in Los Angeles at the house of Chris Gorog, who, until recently, headed the new Napster.”

WPO hosts seminars about a variety of subjects. Gorog had become aware of the unique environment in which Nashville’s publishing community operates through his Music City visits and had asked O’Neil to address the group.

“Generally this group is interested in the mechanics of business,” says O’Neil. “In this case they were fascinated with the orientation of publishing houses where the writers are a central part of the process, similar in a way to the old Tin Pan Alley concepts. I’ve started two of these companies already and therefore came prepared to talk about where the money is made, how you capitalize the business and how long it takes before you can make any money.  But I told Chris, ‘If I can bring our writer Josh Kear and he tells people about what writing a song is like and they can ask him about the songwriting process, then you won’t hear many questions addressed to me.’ Chris had followed Josh’s career and loved the idea. So we played the “Before He Cheats” video and Josh talked about the writing of the song and how it was first pitched to Gretchen Wilson who turned it down. Next it went to Carrie Underwood and soon became both a lightning rod for her career and a game changer for Josh. Sure enough, I was right about Josh getting the bulk of the attention.”

But O’Neil did focus on a few macro level ideas such as the changes in mechanical revenue that in many cases have impacted people adversely. “If you have catalogs of significant size and age then you’ve probably begun to experience a dramatic drop in mechanicals,” ONeil related. “Also the shrinking mechanical earnings are even more skewed because a larger portion of them are now derived from singles which really weren’t a significant source of mechanicals 8-10 years ago. Singles are also the source of most performance income, so more than ever it’s a winner take all process. The single is all-important.”

BMG Rights Mgt. Acquires Cherry Lane

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BMG Rights Management has entered into an agreement to acquire Cherry Lane Music Publishing. Cherry Lane’s roster of songwriters includes Elvis Presley, John Denver, the Black Eyed Peas, Will.i.am, John Legend, Quincy Jones, Warren Haynes, Jordin Sparks, Ashford & Simpson and Hans Zimmer.

The acquisition gives BMG Rights Management a major presence in the U.S., where it launched last December with offices in New York, Los Angeles and Nashville, following the July 2009 acquisition of Crosstown Songs America.

BMG Rights Management was established October, 2008 by former BMG Music Publishing Germany CEO Hartwig Masuch shortly after Bertelsmann sold its 50% stake in the Sony BMG joint venture to Sony. Universal Music Group agreed to acquire BMG Music Publishing in 2006.

“Having already established itself once as a leader in the music publishing industry over several decades, BMG, via its partnership with KKR, has quickly begun to take on a leadership position again on a global basis,” says Peter Primont, Cherry Lane’s CEO and a major shareholder. “We are excited to be part of the team that will continue to grow the business at this important juncture in music publishing’s evolution.”

BMG’s Masuch added: “We chose to acquire Cherry Lane given its highly-regarded, service-oriented approach with its artist/songwriter clients, its extensive catalog of legendary songs, and its breadth of relationships within the music, television, and filmed entertainment communities.”

London’s Financial Times today cited a selling price of between $85 million and $100 million in a report today (3/26).

Mark Weiss Joins Ten Ten

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Mark Weiss

Ten Ten Music Group has announced the appointment of Mark Weiss as the company’s Director of Business Affairs. A graduate of Middle Tennessee State University, Weiss’ previous industry experience includes stints at 615 Music, Scarlet Moon Music, Harlan Howard Songs, and the RCA Label Group.

“Mark’s wide range of experience in Nashville, International Publishing, and the Film & TV industry makes him a great addition to maximize business with our very active catalog,” says Ten Ten Music Co-President Barry Coburn.

“I’m so glad we now have the opportunity of having Mark’s expertise at Ten Ten,” added Jewel Coburn, Ten Ten Music Co-President.