Amazon Music helped kick off CRS 2021 yesterday (Feb. 16) with its annual Country Heat showcase, which for the first time ever went virtual this year. The fourth annual event included a set of performances by headliner Tim McGraw, as well as Kameron Marlowe, Priscilla Block, Shy Carter, and Track45.

Sibling trio Track45 kicked off the afternoon show with “Met Me Now,” followed by artist-writer-producer Shy Carter, who performed “Good Love.” Emerging star Priscilla Block shared her song, “Just About Over You,” and singer-songwriter Kameron Marlowe wowed with “Sober As A Drunk.” Superstar McGraw closed out the Country Heat showcase with “7500 OBO,” “Shotgun Rider,” “Good Taste In Women,” and a special acoustic rendition of “Gravy.”

Singer-songwriter Shy Carter is making his Warner Music Nashville debut with “Good Love,” a soulful song about a relationship being his saving grace on dark days.

The Platinum-selling, Grammy-nominated songwriter has written many hits for others, including Kane Brown’s “Heaven” and “Good As You,” Billy Currington’s “It Don’t Hurt Like it Used To,” Sugarland’s “Stuck Like Glue” and Charlie Puth’s “One Call Away.” Now Carter is ready to step into the spotlight as an artist.

Carter wrote “Good Love” with James Slater, Micah Carter and Carlo Colasacco. Named as a Highway Find on SiriusXM’s The Highway and climbing at country radio, Carter delivers the message: ‘When I feel like I’m dying, you come around with that good love / Good love, good love / Make me feel like it’s alright, make me believe in this good life’

Directed by Erika Rock, the music video for “Good Love” features footage of family, friends and the two who bring the most love to Carter: his children.

The single is the first taste of a soon-to-come collection of work. “We wrote for two years for this project, and we’re still writing. We have a lot of songs that we really love,” Carter tells MusicRow. “We wrote [‘Good Love’] before the pandemic, but then it hit. We thought we still need to put some music out. With ‘Good Love,’ people need it right now. We just wanted to supply the world with what we felt like it needed at the time.”

Carter is a co-writer on another song about positivity in dark days, with Kane Brown’s “Worldwide Beautiful.” Carter says he’s inspired to bring listeners healing and joy. “I’m just trying to bring healing to people. When people say that they’re having a hard day and they put on the song and it makes them feel happy, that’s the best feeling.”

To promote “Good Love” in the midst of a pandemic, Carter has been traveling on radio tour on a quarantine friendly bus.

“It was so much fun,” Carter says. “The idea came from the fact that we actually did it for a few awesome people around Nashville in the back of a truck. We pulled up and just sang in the back of a truck, and they just loved it so much because they weren’t getting to see anybody. So we put it on a bigger scale and we took it out there on [radio tour]. We had so much fun on the bus, just being able to be around people.

“We all made sure to socially distance and wear the masks, but it was still a great time to see the joy that it was bringing to people because we were the only ones out there singing some music. We were coming out there and bringing that ‘good love’ straight to them.”

 

The Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC) announced today (Feb. 16) that it has received a total of $424,384,787 in accrued historical unmatched royalties from digital service providers (DSPs). The data is presented with corresponding reports that identify the usage related to these royalties.

A total of 20 DSPs separately transferred accrued historical unmatched royalties to The MLC as required in order for them to seek the MMA’s limitation on liability for past infringement. In addition to the accrued unmatched royalties transferred to The MLC, the DSPs concerned also delivered more than 1,800 data files, which contain in excess of 1.3 terabytes and nine billion lines of data.

The transfer of these monies represents the culmination of a months-long effort on the part of The MLC and these DSPs to develop and implement the specifications for these usage reports. With these historical unmatched royalties and usage reports now in hand, The MLC can begin the process of reviewing and analyzing the data in order to find and pay the proper copyright owners.

Going forward, The MLC will provide additional information about historical unmatched royalties on a newly-created page on its website entitled Historical Unmatched Royalties. Below is an initial summary of the historical unmatched royalties separately transferred to The MLC by each DSP:

Read more about the data above here.

NMPA President & CEO David Israelite offered the following about the news:

“Songwriters and music publishers have for years fought to ensure they were paid accurately and fully by digital streaming services. ‘Unmatched money’ has plagued the industry and today, thanks to the Music Modernization Act (MMA), we know that it amounts to just under $425 million—not including money previously paid out in multiple million dollar settlements. This significant amount proves just how broken the system was, how much the MMA was needed, and how much songwriters have to benefit from the protections it has put in place. At long last, that money can make its way to its rightful owners. This is a massive win for music creators and the streaming services themselves. The Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) obtaining this historically unmatched money, doing the research to find its owners, and giving copyright owners a transparent process to claim what is theirs is exciting progress that paves the way for the future growth of streaming that will benefit the entire industry.”

Digital Licensee Coordinator (DLC) representative Garrett Levin, offered the following statement:

“Today marks a critical milestone in the new mechanical licensing regime established by the Music Modernization Act (MMA) two years ago. As announced by The Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC), 20 digital music providers (DMPs) transferred a combined $424.4 million in historical unmatched royalties and accompanying historical usage information, representing the remaining royalties that have been unpaid to copyright owners after years of concerted effort by the streaming services and their partners. These royalties are a small fraction of the overall mechanical royalties that have been paid out during that time period.

The MLC now has in one centralized operation the usage data and corresponding royalties that are critical components for delivering on the promise of the MMA and allowing The MLC to meet its commitment to efficiently and effectively distribute royalties to those who have earned them.”

The Artist Rights Alliance gave the following statement:

“Today’s historic transfer of almost half a billion dollars in unmatched royalties to The MLC is a great start – but there’s a lot of work still to be done to get that money to the songwriters that earned it. We are grateful to the Copyright Office team that skillfully and doggedly worked through a number of complex issues in the months leading up this transfer, including major disagreements about the proper treatment of past industry settlements.

In the months ahead we look forward to engaging further with the Office about efforts by publishers who have already been paid for historical usages via settlement agreements to seek double payment out of these new funds. As we have told the Office in our prior filings, the major publishers that already settled with digital services and received payment from them should not be allowed to claim a further share of the monies transferred to The MLC today.

Today’s news is a huge step forward for songwriters – one made possible by so many stakeholders all across the music community who came together to work for passage of the Music Modernization Act and continue to work in good faith as it is implemented.”

Kris Marcy has been appointed Director of Artist Management and Development at Warehouse West Entertainment. Rafaela Marone has also been promoted to Manager of Creative Services at the independent artist management, publishing, and artist development company.

In his new position, Marcy will assume responsibility for Warehouse West’s day-to-day artist management division, as well as its development roster. Marone will support the releases and publishing activities of the company’s artists.

Marcy’s career includes experience as an artist, artist manager, tour manager, and consultant, working alongside artists such as Brad Paisley, Brooks & Dunn, U2, Chris Stapleton, Matthew & Gunnar Nelson, Keith Urban, John Mayer, Alan Jackson, George Strait, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Merle Haggard, among others.

Marone has spent the last year as Management Coordinator at Warehouse West Entertainment. The Brazilian native graduated from UC Berkeley with a B.A. in Media Studies, where she interned for several semesters at Crush Music prior to joining WWE.

“We are excited to welcome Kris to the team and to congratulate Rafaela on her new position,” said Warehouse West co-founder Luke Wooten. “As we gear up for live music to start again sometime this year, we’re confident that Kris and Rafaela will bring much-needed experience and enthusiasm to our artists’ programs.”

“This concept has been in the works for quite some time, and it’s a great feeling to have it come to fruition,” said Marcy. “I’m humbled at the thought of working alongside this team for such an incredibly talented artist roster.”

“It’s a great privilege being part of such a fantastic team and working alongside an unbelievably talented roster,” said Marone. “Their passion is the driving force behind my work, and I’m excited to see where this next chapter will take us.”

Blythe Scokin and John Geraghty have joined forces to launch a new management and entertainment company, rogue.

With a focus on the development, strategy, and bold storytelling of creators through music, social impact, film, TV and more, the team has been a driving force behind the careers of Ingrid Andress and rising pop star FLETCHER.

In 2020, Geraghty was featured in Billboard’s PRIDE issue as one of their top execs. For the last several years, he has independently developed FLETCHER into a star on-the-rise, with nearly 750 million streams worldwide (with her leak of The S(ex) Tapes immediately reaching No. 1 on iTunes across genres), sold-out global tours, an end-credit title and single from the Margot Robbie-produced Promising Young Woman, and iHeartRadio nomination for Best New Pop Artist in 2020. FLETCHER’s 2019’s breakthrough debut “Undrunk” was the fastest-rising single at pop radio from a new artist in the last five years.

Scokin has been the force behind breakout country star and 3x Grammy nominee Ingrid Andress. Her debut single, “More Hearts Than Mine,” topped the charts and was certified Platinum within a year of her debut. Andress was the first country artist to be named one of Apple Music’s Up Next, and was nominated for two CMA Awards, an ACM Award, and was set to tour with Keith Urban, Dan + Shay, Thomas Rhett, and Tim McGraw in 2020. Prior to Andress, Scokin managed superstar Ciara while working at Friends at Work, brokering her deal with Warner Records and brands like Revlon and Calvin Klein. She started her career at Endeavor working on film, music, and fashion projects for artists from Tyler the Creator to Sam Smith, fashion house Rodarte, and Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton.

“After knowing one another for almost five years now, we knew it was time to come together once 2020 hit,” Geraghty said. “Blythe is the most loyal friend, brilliant manager, and greatest example of integrity I’ve ever experienced in this business. I couldn’t be more excited to “go rogue” and to be developing such important projects together with one team.”

“I’m so proud to join forces with John to bring our artists together under one roof. We’ve been fortunate to work with two groundbreaking artists in both the country and pop genres who have become our family and are always ready and willing to go rogue with us,” said Scokin. “There’s no one with better taste and more heart than John. He’s the best of the best at finding and developing talent from the ground up.”

Since establishing rogue. in 2020, Scokin and Geraghty have added New Zealand’s Thomston to their roster, with other projects in the works.

The company will be based in both Los Angeles, California and Nashville, Tennessee.