Big Yellow Dog Music Adds To Film/TV Sync Department

/by

Pictured (L-R): Sophie Hopkins, Heather Klein

Big Yellow Dog Music has hired Sophie Hopkins as Creative Manager and Heather Klein as Creative Coordinator for its Film/TV Sync Department.

“I am so excited for Heather and Sophie to be a part of this Sync Team,” says Big Yellow Dog Music General Manager of Creative – Film & TV Sync, Alex Stefano. “They will be great advocates for our artists in the sync world.”

Hopkins has been added in the role of Creative Manager for Film/TV Sync. After graduating from Belmont University, she lived in Los Angeles, where she worked as a Music Coordinator at Heavy Hitters Music Group before returning to Nashville to work with Big Yellow Dog Music.

Klein is a Cleveland, Ohio, native and spent a few years living abroad in Australia before moving to Nashville. She attended Middle Tennessee State University and spent her last semester interning for the Sync department at Big Yellow Dog Music. Upon graduating, Klein was hired as a Creative Coordinator for Film/TV Sync.

Big Yellow Dog Music’s film, television, and brand division had more than 400 placements in both 2016 and 2017, including uses by Big Little Lies, JCPenney, How to Get Away With Murder, Shades of Blue, HP, Mad Max: Fury Road, Moana, The Peanuts Movie, T-Mobile, and The Edge of Seventeen.

Big Yellow Dog Music’s catalog includes songs performed by Meghan Trainor, Maren Morris, Lady Antebellum, Demi Lovato, Rascal Flatts, Luke Bryan, Charlie Puth, Keith Urban, Labrinth, Jennifer Lopez, Chris Lane, Jason Derulo, Florida Georgia Line, DJ Khaled, Dierks Bentley, Fifth Harmony, Michael Bublé, Josh Turner, and others.

Big Deal Music Goup Inks Admin Agreement With Notable Music

/by

Cy Coleman

Big Deal Music Group has entered into a long-term worldwide administration agreement with Notable Music, the company founded by composer Cy Coleman in 1962.

A child prodigy pianist, Mr. Coleman played his first gig at Carnegie Hall at the age of 5 and would go on to write such classic songs as “Witchcraft,” “The Best is Yet to Come,” “Big Spender,” and “Hey Look Me Over,” among others. His work on Broadway is unparalleled, having major hit shows each decade of the 1960s (Wildcat, Little Me, Sweet Charity), 1970s (Seesaw, I Love My Wife, On the Twentieth Century), 1980s (Barnum, City of Angels), and 1990s (Will Rogers Follies, The Life). Coleman was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1981 and served on ASCAP’s Board of Directors for three decades.

The Notable Music catalog also includes works by some of the most important American contemporary songwriters including Bobby Hebb, Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee Rosanne Cash, Sam Phillips and Tift Merritt.

“Anchored by Cy Coleman’s enduring compositions, Notable Music is a wellspring of incredible writers and their songs,” said Big Deal Music Group Founder and President, Kenny MacPherson. “I’m thrilled to welcome this amazing catalog into the Big Deal family.”

“Notable’s association with Kenny and his team goes back many years to when we worked together at Chrysalis,” said Shelby Coleman, Cy’s widow and President of Notable. “We are thrilled to be back in such a creative environment and look forward to continuing to create new opportunities for the influential and hugely popular songs that Cy and the rest of the Notable writers have brought into the world.”

Jacee Badeaux Named Creative Director At Big Yellow Dog Music

/by

Jacee Badeaux has joined Big Yellow Dog Music as Creative Director. In this role he will assist the creative services team responsible for writer management and song plugging at the publishing company.

In 2011, Badeaux appeared on season 10 of American Idol, where he made it to the Top 40. He then attended Belmont University and interned at Big Yellow Dog Music before serving on the administrative staff at APA.

“As a growing publishing company, we always look for the brightest lights to bring to Big Yellow Dog and to our music community,” says Big Yellow Dog Music CEO Carla Wallace. “If you get a chance to meet this guy, you will see why he got a gig here. He can also make a really good gumbo.”

Songwriters Renew With Downtown Music Nashville

/by

Downtown Nashville staff and writers (L-R): Marc Beeson, Allen Shamblin, Andy Albert, Sam Ashworth, Steve Markland, Roberto Neri, Tony Esterly, Katie Roth, Natalie Osborne, Kelly Archer, Sara Haze, and FANN

Four Nashville songwriters, including Andy Albert, Kelly Archer, Marc Beeson, and Tony Esterly were among the first songwriters to sign on when Downtown Music Publishing opened their Nashville office in 2014. Now, all four are extending and renewing their deals at Downtown Nashville.

“When we launched Downtown Nashville in 2014, I was thrilled to begin working with Andy, Kelly, Marc, and Tony,” says Steve Markland, VP of A&R. “They’ve been four of the biggest reasons we’ve had such success here in our first four years, and we’re excited and committed to continue helping them in the development of their writing careers.”

In the past year and a half, veteran writer Archer has had the first two No. 1 hits of her career: “Sleep Without You” (performed by Brett Young) and “Somebody Else Will” (performed by Justin Moore). Marc Beeson has co-written multiple recent Top 10s, including Josh Turner’s 2017 No. 1 “Hometown Girl” and Blake Shelton’s 2016 hit “She’s Got A Way With Words.” The latter Beeson co-wrote with Andy Albert, who himself has seen career peaks since joining Downtown including, “If the Boot Fits” (performed by Granger Smith) and Smith’s current single “Happens Like That.” Writer-producer Esterly has landed over 20 major sync placements in the last year. He is also actively writing and producing several pop/rock development artists for 2018.

In the last year, Downtown Nashville has had 11 singles on the country radio charts, including five Top 10s and three No. 1 songs. They work closely with Downtown’s other global offices to reach beyond the world of country music as well, including Esterly’s many pop/rock syncs in projects like the Assassin’s Creed movie trailer and the Lego Ninjago movie. In addition to their existing offices in Nashville, New York, London, Amsterdam, and Tokyo, Downtown is about to announce two new offices to expand their international presence in new markets.

New Hires At Round Hill Music Nashville

/by

Rebecca Turner, Robbie English, Casey Reznik

Round Hill Music Nashville has hired three new employees in royalties, sync licensing, and administration.

Rebecca Turner has joined Round Hill as Director, Head of Royalty Services where she will be responsible for managing the company’s royalty team. Turner’s previous experience includes Licensing and Royalty Administration Supervisor at Naxos of America, Royalties Manager at Big Machine Label Group, and most recently, Royalty Manager at Modern Music Works Music Publishing.

Robbie English has joined Round Hill as Senior Coordinator, Sync Licensing where he will negotiate quotes and licenses for film and television. English previously worked as a negotiator in the Sync Licensing department at BMG in Los Angeles and worked with International clearances at Sony/ATV.

Casey Reznik has joined Round Hill as Senior Coordinator, Administration where she will assist with mechanical licensing, copyright registration, and PRO registration. Reznik previously processed royalties and copyrights at ASCAP in New York City and worked as a Licensing & Music Product Coordinator at Drew’s Entertainment in New Jersey.

“I am excited to welcome all three of our new employees to the Round Hill team,” says Mark Brown, SVP/GM, Round Hill Music Nashville. “We are a growing company and it takes a compliment of talented and qualified professionals to provide the service our clients expect. These three are all great additions.”

Jon Santana Signs With Prescription Songs

/by

Pictured (L-R): Rachel Wein, Alexa Stallings, Katie Fagan, Jon Santana, Andrea Quezada, Derek Gridley

Prescription Songs has signed producer Jon Santana.

Santana moved to Nashville in 2015 and started working with local pop breakouts Peter Manos and Cappa, whose collaboration on a “No Scrubs” cover garnered almost 8 million Spotify streams and placement in Forever 21 and Zara stores nationwide.

Santana’s own song “NY90” off his debut EP And There They Were, placed on Spotify Viral Charts in the U.S, Canada, Germany, Norway and Poland. He has had sync placements on MTV and VH1, and recently released his song “Galaxy” via Majestic Casual Records. He is prepping for the release of his next single, which will be an overseas hip-hop collaboration.

“I’m really excited to continue to make music with the support of Katie and Rachel and the rest of the amazing Rx team,” said Santana.

NSAI Announces Board Of Directors

/by

Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) has concluded its 2018 Board of Directors election. New board members are Corey Crowder, Chris DeStefano and Jimmy Yeary.

Current board members who were re-elected to an additional two-year term include Tony Arata, Steve Bogard, Jeff Cohen, Ben Glover, Connie Harrington, Byron Hill, Liz Rose and Jenn Schott.

These members join existing board members Rhett Akins, Jim Beavers, Roger Brown, Beckie Foster, Nicolle Galyon, Brett James, Tim Nichols, Gary Nicholson, Josh Osborne, Rivers Rutherford, Anthony Smith, Caitlyn Smith, Bobby Tomberlin, Troy Verges and Danny Wells, whose terms expire in 2019. Additionally, past-president Lee Thomas Miller sits on the board as a non-voting ex-officio member.

The election includes votes by the NSAI Professional Songwriter Membership and appointments by the NSAI Board of Directors. Officer elections will occur at the May 2018 board meeting.

peermusic Expands Nashville Team

/by

Kendall Lettow, Matt Michiels

peermusic Nashville is expanding its Creative team and has tapped publishing executives Matt Michiels and Kendall Lettow as Senior Creative Director and Creative Manager, respectively, as announced today by Michael Knox, Vice President, peermusic Nashville.

“Our company has a rich history, over 90 years strong, of championing songwriters,” said Knox. “Our songwriters know that we are in it for the long haul and that we have a best-in-class creative team to help find talent, develop careers, and ensure a platform for their songs to be noticed. Appointing talented and proven creative executives is an important part of ensuring this standard, and I am very happy to welcome Matt and Kendall to our team.”

Michiels began his career working part-time for Gallimore Productions & Song Garden Publishing founded by producer Byron Gallimore. There he assisted in production coordination on albums by Faith Hill, Tim McGraw and Jo Dee Messina. This led to an opportunity to join Warner/Chappell Nashville in 2004 as Production Manager where he handled all aspects of the catalog for the pub company’s writers and A&R staff. Over the next 13 and half years his role expanded greatly to include song pitching, graphic design for marketing, pitching for film and television, and consulting for the development of Warner/Chappell’s global creative technology solutions. Matt has secured cuts with Ashley Monroe, Dustin Lynch, Michael Ray, Jason Aldean, Ryan Hurd, and Lindsay Ell among others. He is a native of Meridian, Mississippi and holds a B.A. in Music from The University of Alabama.

Lettow holds a degree from the Recording Industry Management program at Middle Tennessee State University and has worked in the Nashville music publishing community for eight years working in the Creative departments of Kobalt Music, Still Working Music, and THiS Music where she managed writers and pitched songs, landing song placements with major label country artists. Most recently, Lettow held a creative position at the publishing company MV2 Entertainment.

peermusic Nashville’s office is led by Michael Knox – a music industry veteran who knows a thing or two about making a hit. Knox has 20 #1 songs under his belt as a producer, over 40 million singles and 18 million albums sold during his career. In addition to discovering Jason Aldean, being a top publisher and having an artist management business, Knox’s production credits include Jason Aldean, Thomas Rhett, Trace Adkins, Montgomery Gentry, Kelly Clarkson, Ludacris, Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Frankie Ballard, Josh Thompson, Tyler Rich, Michael Tyler, as well as the late, legendary Buddy Knox, who is also his father. Knox has also served on the ACM Board of Directors (current), CMA Board of directors and GRAMMY Special Committees.

Country music pioneer, Jimmie Rodgers, was one of the first writers signed to peermusic back in 1927 by the company founder Ralph S. Peer and would later become one of the first performers inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Over 90 years later, the company still publishes the Rodgers catalog, and has even has signed a descendant of Jimmie Rodgers, Michael Tyler, to a publishing deal. In the summer of 1927, Peer also recorded The Carter Family and other acts in a series of sessions known as The Bristol Sessions, which Johnny Cash once called “the single most important event in the history of country music.” Peer also played a role in founding BMI, an early champion of country music. Today, Knox ensures that the company’s rich history of championing songwriters with its Nashville office remains as strong as ever.

 

Round Hill Music Celebrates 25th Number One With Maren Morris Hit

/by

Round Hill Music Nashville has reached a milestone this January as it celebrates its 25th Country Airplay No. 1 with Maren Morris’ “I Could Use A Love Song,” co-written by Round Hill’s Jimmy Robbins. The No. 1 comes on the heels of recent chart-toppers “I’ll Name The Dogs” by Blake Shelton, “Small Town Boy” by Dustin Lynch (which spent four weeks at atop the charts), “Fast” by Luke Bryan, and “Think A Little Less” by Michael Ray.

Round Hill Music Nashville’s roster includes Dallas Davidson, Jimmy Robbins, Wade Kirby, and Danny Myrick. The company owns the catalogs of Big Loud Shirt, Bob DiPiero, Josh Kear, Marti Frederiksen, Big Tractor Music, and Root 49, among others. Hits from these catalogs include “Amazed,” “Gone,” “I Saw God Today,” “Undo It,” “Need You Now,” “Before He Cheats,” “Cruise,” “Drunk On A Plane,” “Live Like You Were Dying,” and “She’s Country,” among many other country classics.

In addition to its own roster of writers, Round Hill has a joint venture with Big Loud’s publishing company and the two share a roster that includes Rodney Clawson, Chris Tompkins, Matt Dragstrem, Sarah Buxton, and Hall of Fame songwriter Craig Wiseman.

“It is a real privilege to be associated with such exceptional songwriters and remarkable catalogs,” said Round Hill’s Mark Brown. “Likewise, to have the opportunity to work with our amazing team of top-notch executives and team members companywide is a real honor. We are all so proud of every one of our writers and their outstanding achievements. Congrats to everyone.”

“Having 25 number one country songs in four years for a company our size is quite remarkable and is a result of the hard work of our songwriters along with the guidance and help from our team,” said Round Hill CEO Joshua Gruss. “Thank you to Mark Brown, all of our associated songwriters, our partners at Big Loud, and the Round Hill staff in Nashville for helping us achieve this milestone.”

January marks a historic month for Round Hill Music with the acquisition of Carlin Music and the partnership with Zync Music.

ole Extends Deal With Chris Janson

/by

Chris Janson. Photo: Brenton Giesey

On Jan. 29, ole announced it has concluded an exclusive deal with singer/songwriter Chris Janson. The deal includes the purchase of Janson’s publishing share of his existing catalogue (including his most recent album, Everybody), and extends ole’s existing publishing agreement with Janson for future albums.

“I’m proud to extend my partnership with ole. I am proud to be a songwriter, and thankful for the success it has brought my family and I,” commented Janson. “I’m passionate about songwriting and look forward to the future with the ole team.”

John Ozier, ole’s Vice President, Creative, added, “We’re incredibly proud to have extended our deal with Chris Janson. Not only is Chris an amazing artist and performer, Chris is a prolific songwriter. We look forward to building on the success and momentum that we have and cannot wait to see what this year brings for Chris and ole.”

Janson’s most recent album, Everybody, was released in September 2017, led by the single, “Fix A Drink.” The second single, “Drunk Girl,” published by ole and co-written by Janson, Tom Douglas and Scooter Carusoe, is currently climbing its way up the airplay charts. Earning widespread praise from critics, “Drunk Girl” was named one of Rolling Stone’s “25 Best Country Songs of 2017”.

Janson previously hit No. 1 with “Buy Me A Boat” in late 2015. In addition to his self-recorded tracks, Janson has also written more than 25 songs for a long list of country stars, including Tim McGraw (“Truck Yeah” & “How I’ll Always Be”), Locash (“I Love This Life”), and Randy Houser (“Song Number 7”).