Mandy West has returned to GrassRoots Promotion as VP of Client Development. West had previously served as Promotion Coordinator, Radio Tour Manager and then Director of Operations at GrassRoots Promotion in her 11-year tenure before leaving for two years to serve as VP of Operations for The Clif Doyal Agency. West’s stops prior to GrassRoots Promotion included i.v. inc., transparent creative management and Clear Channel Spectacolor in New York.

As VP of Client Development, West will work with new clients to develop their radio promotion and social media campaign strategies and will also represent GrassRoots Promotion’s new products and services to artist and label clients including the GrassRoots proprietary Interactive Radio Airplay Map and the Facebook Target Tastemaker Ad Campaign.

GrassRoots Promotion celebrates 20 years of business in 2016 and includes radio promotion to non-reporters, Traction, MusicRow CountryBreakout Chart, Billboard Indicator, Aircheck Activator and Texas reporters along with social media marketing, consulting and radio syndication.

GrassRoots Promotion Managing Partner and Co-owner Nancy Tunick states, “We are so thrilled to have Mandy back as part of our GrassRoots family. Mandy is uniquely qualified to work with our artist clients and labels as she has broad marketing experience and was instrumental in helping to develop many of our existing services.”

West says, “In so many ways, it feels like I’ve come home. GrassRoots is an amazing company and I’m genuinely excited to accept this new role and to be a part of an exceptionally talented team—and they’re nice people too! I’m looking forward to continuing their long-standing tradition of providing excellent client care—as well as introducing some really innovative new services and products. It’s great to be back!”

West can be reached at 615-226-3355 or at mandy@grassrootspromotion.com.

The Radio Music License Committee (RMLC) has filed an antitrust complaint against the new, fourth performing rights organization—Irving Azoff‘s Global Music Rights (GMR)—which begins its own radio licensing for the songwriters it represents on Jan. 1, 2017.

The complaint is motivated by what the RMLC calls “anticompetitive behavior that, if unchecked, would allow GMR to charge the U.S. commercial radio industry monopoly prices to publicly perform musical works in the GMR repertory.” In documents, the RMLC goes so far as to say GMR us unlawful and its desire to seek “substantially higher” and “exorbitant” royalties “would do irreparable harm to our [radio] industry.” Thus, the RMLC seeks more government oversight in the form of a judicial rate—comparable to what the consent decrees governing ASCAP and BMI impose.

According to the RMLC’s industry email, the proposed fees from GMR could increase some stations payouts anywhere from 1/3 to over 1/2 of what they currently pay to ASCAP or BMI. GMR’s “weighted, preliminary” market share is cited by the RMLC to be at most, 5 to 7.5 percent.

The privately‐held, for‐profit SESAC reached a similar settlement with the RMLC in summer 2015. The RMLC is under the belief those types of free market systems create “a bottleneck to, and artificial monopoly over, the works in its repertory.”

The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania by the law firm of Latham & Watkins, on behalf of the RMLC as the sole plaintiff in the action. Along with the complaint, the RMLC has also filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to prevent GMR from charging radio stations monopoly prices for a GMR license while the litigation is pending.

Writers in GMR’s fold include Nashville’s Shane McAnally, Luke Laird, and Paul Overstreet, in addition to Pharrell Williams, Ryan Tedder and the estates of Lennon and Ira Gershwin among many others.

CBS Radio could soon be moving 200 jobs to Nashville, according to Nashville Business Journal.

On Tuesday, Nov. 15, Tennessee state official Jamari Brown said an unidentified company, named “Project A,” is set to move 200 jobs to Nashville, marking a $5 million investment. Those jobs would pay an average annual salary of $48,000 and would be located downtown. CBS Radio is headquartered in New York City.

Brown also told Metro’s Industrial Development Board on Tuesday that the state has offered $1 million in taxpayer incentives for the deal.

The move would follow the recent announcement that Warner Music Group might add up to 500 jobs in four years to Music City, as it will station its national finance team in Nashville.

CBS Radio’s 117 stations are present in 26 markets, with a reach of more than 65 million people per week in 2015.

 

The 2016 CMA Broadcast Awards winners were honored during The 50th Annual CMA Awards last night (Nov. 2) at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, where Dan+Shay presented the honors to the Broadcast Personality and Station of the Year winners.

In October, five-time CMA Entertainer of the Year Garth Brooks personally notified each winner by calling into their respective show and station. MusicRow‘s chart reporting station, WCOW – La Crosse, Wis., was a nominee in both small market categories this year.

2016 CMA Broadcast Award winners include:

2016 CMA Broadcast Personality of the Year Winners
National – “Country Countdown USA” (Lon Helton) – Westwood One
Major Market – “Chris Carr & Company” (Chris Carr, Jeff “Maverick” Bolen, and Kia Becht) – KEEY, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.
Large Market – “The Big Dave Show” (David Chandler, Chelsie Shinkle, and Jason Statt) – WUBE, Cincinnati, Ohio
Medium Market – “The Gator & StyckMan Program” (Gator Harrison, Greg “StyckMan” Owens, and “Cowboy” Kyle Croft) – WUSY, Chattanooga, Tenn.
Small Market – “The Eddie Foxx Show” (Eddie Foxx and Sharon Green) – WKSF, Asheville, N.C.

2016 CMA Radio Station of the Year Winners
Major Market – KKBQ – Houston-Galveston, Texas
Large Market – WUBE – Cincinnati, Ohio
Medium Market – WUSY – Chattanooga, Tenn.
Small Market – KTTS – Springfield, Mo.