Warner/Chappell Music and Cornman Music have signed a worldwide co-publishing agreement with songwriter Josh Miller.

A self-described member of the “mixtape generation,” Miller’s music combines elements from the various genres of music he grew up listening to: country storytelling, pop melodies, and R&B phrasing. This marks the first time Miller has been signed to a music publisher.

Cornman Music was founded in 2007 by Grammy Award-winning songwriter Brett James and launched in partnership with Warner/Chappell Music.

Martin Bandier, Chairman and CEO of Sony/ATV Music Publishing, and David Israelite, President of National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) have each issued statements with concerns about the Department of Justice’s decision regarding 100 percent licensing.

The topic has been a major concern since June 29, when the Department of Justice surprised the industry with the decision. The ruling means that a song co-written by an ASCAP songwriter and a BMI songwriter would be available to license with approval from just one PRO. It also means that if a songwriter owns only a portion of the song, he or she can license the full song, as long as that songwriter ensures the other credited writers are getting paid. Under the current system, known as fractionalized licensing, each copyright owner in the song takes care of licensing their portion.

Meanwhile the ruling declined requests from major publishing companies to have a right to negotiate licensing rates with digital music providers like Pandora and Spotify. The original consent decree was enacted in 1941, and pertained specifically to ASCAP and BMI, but the music industry has lobbied for the last two or three years to modernize the law. Their requests were all denied in the ruling.

The statements are below:

Martin Bandier, Chairman and CEO of Sony/ATV Music Publishing

“We are extremely disappointed by the DOJ’s decision to issue a misguided and unprecedented interpretation of the consent decrees that is contrary to how they have worked and how the business has operated over many decades. Not only does it contradict the views of the U.S. Copyright Office and the entire music industry, but it will bring significant uncertainty and disorder to a marketplace that has worked well for years, while leaving everybody in the licensing process, including songwriters, to try to figure out how 100% licensing might work. Instead of modernizing the consent decrees, this decision has created a host of problems that will now have to be addressed by the courts and must be addressed by Congress as well.”

David Israelite, President & CEO, NMPA

“The Department of Justice (DoJ) has dealt a massive blow to America’s songwriters. After a two year review of the consent decrees that govern ASCAP and BMI, career lawyers who were never elected nor confirmed to their positions, led by a lawyer who previously represented Google, determined that songwriters should have even fewer rights, less control over their intellectual property and be treated more unfairly than they already are. The Department ignored the voices of copyright experts, members of Congress and thousands of songwriters and delivered a huge gift to tech companies who already benefit from egregiously low rates.

“The interpretation that the consent decrees demand that all works must be licensed on a 100 percent basis is both unprecedented and disastrous to the songwriting community. The decision represents a misunderstanding of copyright law and directly violates the legal guidance given by the Register of Copyright. The defiance displayed by these career antitrust lawyers in ignoring the legal opinion of the Register of Copyright is shocking.

“Washington bureaucrats should not be in the business of regulating music as they are neither capable of understanding or fixing the problems they’ve created. We are hopeful that through the legal process, conversations with those in Congress who understand copyright law, and ultimately the voices of those most affected, the creators themselves, we can find a path forward.”

Big Yellow Dog Music has signed singer/songwriter Keelan Donovan to its roster, with plans to release an EP.

“Amazing voice, amazing songs, and a natural artist,” said Carla Wallace, CEO of Big Yellow Dog Music.

“Keelan is just finishing a new EP produced by Dan Agee and Daniel Tashian that we’re very excited to bring to the market,” said Devon Devries and Alex Stefano, who have worked with Keelan in the sync division of Big Yellow Dog Music.

As Miranda Lambert’s “Vice” and Dierks Bentley and Elle King’s “Different For Girls” reside in the Top 10 on this week’s Billboard country chart, they will also help the families of critically ill children who are at risk of being evicted from their homes.

Both of these songs are co-written by a songwriter affiliated with Shane McAnally’s Nashville-based SMACKSongs. SMACKSongs has pledged to donate $2,500 for every Billboard Top 10 song the company represents to The Silverton Foundation, to support rent and mortgage payment assistance for families with children who are hospitalized or receiving ongoing critical care treatment.

SMACKSongs is on pace to match its 2015 total of 10 top country music hits, which would result in donations worth 30 months of payment assistance. In 2015, the foundation paid 116 months worth of mortgage or rent for families in need.

SMACKSongs VP of Business Affairs Michael McAnally Baum recalls a story of an evicted family with for a critically ill child. “Thank God the child recovered from their condition, but in the process, because they didn’t have proper housing to go back to, the child was in danger of going into the foster care program,” he says. “That’s heartbreaking to think of any parents who could find themselves in that situation, having already cleared that hurdle of your child’s health, only to find that the state is endangering your ability to be a parent to that child. It is heartbreaking.”

The partnership reunites McAnally Baum with his former Silverton Mortgage colleague, and The Silverton Foundation founder, Josh Moffitt. Baum worked with Silverton Mortgage from 2004 until he moved to Nashville in 2013.

 

In the partnership’s first 60 days, they sent out approximately $16,000 to help families in need, thanks to SMACKSongs cuts like Kenny Chesney’s “Noise,” Old Dominion’s “Snapback,” and Thomas Rhett’s “T-Shirt.” SMACKSongs relies on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts, as well as Mediabase, to determine the qualifying singles.

A typical request from a family in need is approximately $800 to prevent a foreclosure or eviction. “Some families might need one month to get back on their feet; for others it might be three months,” says Moffitt.

McAnally Baum and Moffitt realized the emotional and financial toll that a major medical crisis can place on a family.

“Usually one spouse or both are losing their jobs or their finances are dramatically impacted because of the situation,” says Moffitt. “A lot of times they have to move to another city or spend a ton of time a long way from home. Because of that, they can lose income on top of all the medical bills. We then started encountering these folks that were being evicted or foreclosed while all this is going on. Their focus was on the health of their child, but when their child is well, they weren’t able to go home. In working with the social workers at the hospitals, you realize how vast the problem is.”

Moffitt notes that The Silverton Foundation is 100 percent volunteer-based, and offers help to families from across the country that come to Atlanta for seeking treatment for their children. The Silverton Foundation aims to expand its reach to Tennessee and other portions of the Southeast.

 

Moffitt offers another example of a three-month-old boy who contracted bacterial meningitis at 12 days old, resulting in a host of serious health conditions, including seizures and cerebral palsy.

“He was sent home for a month, then readmitted to the hospital,” says Moffitt. “His 22-year-old single mother was employed full-time at a call center. Obviously she missed a lot of work to make all his appointments and to care for him. She received her eviction notice the day he was readmitted to the hospital. She had been reaching out to other places for assistance as well, and asked us to help with one month’s rent to make her payments current. We obviously understand that apartments and mortgage companies have a business to run, so we understand their position. We always call and confirm with the landlords, and 99 out of 100 times, the landlords say how wonderful the families are. They are working with them the best they can. There might be a father mowing the grass on 20 homes just to help make ends meet. The stories we hear are unbelievable.”

“We have quite a bit [of songs] on the charts now that are at various stages of moving up, and it gives us an extra incentive to say not only are we excited for the success of the song and the songwriter, but we are excited because that success also helps take care of our community,” says McAnally Baum. “Country music is all about faith, family and home, and I think this partnership touches on all of those things. So whenever we do feel a sense of success, we also feel a big sense like we are giving back.”

For more on The Silverton Foundation, visit thesilvertonfoundation.org.

Thirty Tigers and former Southern Ground executive Lynn Oliver-Cline has launched River House Artists (RHA), an independent record label and publishing company developing new talent in Nashville.

RHA’s first artist signing is country newcomer Luke Combs. Combs just finished recording his debut album, which is set to be released this fall with at least eight of the tracks being co-written with Ray Fulcher. Fulcher will be the first songwriter to sign to Oliver-Cline’s publishing division.

“I find it most rewarding to build something from the ground up, so RHA will be a true artist development company to help new talent get to the next level,” Oliver-Cline says. “I’ve always believed in being a cheerleader and advocate for the artist, and I’m confident in my ability to discover and nurture talent.”

Thirty Tigers will be enlisted for marketing and distribution of RHA.

“Lynn was a valued member of our team at Thirty Tigers, so it was an easy decision when she was starting her own label to ask if we could be of service in that venture,” Thirty Tigers founder David Macias said. “Fortunately for us, she said yes! She is someone that has a knack for recognizing special talent, and her first signing is no surprise. Luke Combs is a fantastic artist, and I think that we’re all going to be very successful together.”

Oliver-Cline’s previous experience includes interning for Hootie & The Blowfish and Fishco Management in 1994. Over the next 10 years she served as a talent scout and A&R Director for producer Matt Serletic (Matchbox 20, Gloriana) in Los Angeles and New York. In 2007 she joined Zac Brown’s ROAR as the band’s day-to-day manager. She then moved to Nashville from Atlanta to work with Southern Ground Artists, where she oversaw the publishing company and label. She was most recently VP of Marketing at Thirty Tigers, serving as project manager for Lucinda Williams as well as Jason Isbell’s Grammy Award-winning album Something More Than Free.