Pictured (L-R): Ross Copperman (BMI/Rezonant Music Publishing), Ashley Gorley (ASCAP/Combustion Music/Round Hill), Dierks Bentley, Knox Bentley, Jon Nite (ASCAP/Endurance Music Group), Producer Arturo Buenahora. Photo: Ed Rode

Multi-Platinum singer/songwriter Dierks Bentley celebrated his 19th No. 1 hit “Living” at Nashville’s Superica restaurant on Thursday (Dec. 5). The song marks the third consecutive chart-topper off his album The Mountain, following two back-to-back consecutive No. 1 hits, “Woman, Amen” and “Burning Man.”

Hosted by ASCAP’s Beth Brinker and BMI’s Josh Tomlinson, industry members celebrated Bentley alongside co-writers Ashley Gorley (ASCAP) and Jon Nite (ASCAP) as well as BMI writer Ross Copperman, and producer Aurturo Buenahora.

Gorley recently celebrated his 7^th ASCAP Country Songwriter of the Year honor; “Living” is Gorley’s 43^rd No. 1 hit (he now has 45 No. 1 songs total). “Living” marks Nite’s 12th No. 1 single.

Also celebrating were Combustion Music’s Chris Farren, Endurance Music Group’s Michael Martin, Round Hill Music’s Mark Brown, Warner Chappell Music’s Ryan Beuschel, and UMG Nashville’s Mike Dungan.

“These are three of my best friends in the world and to be able to do music with them is the best thing,” Copperman said.

“I’m thankful to Dierks for being an artist who cares about the album, about the project. He had a vision for this and to take us to Telluride to work on this album. It was just an amazing thing to do that. As a writer, that’s what motivates us is working with guys that have something to say and I couldn’t be happier. Great sounding record and I’m very proud to be part of this song,” said Gorley.

“This is unbelievable for us, to write a song that we love and live everyday, it’s crazy for you to make it a hit. I had so much fun doing this with you guys, it was the trip of a lifetime,” Nite added.

“This is it. This is the end of The Mountain. It was a journey that started during a trip to Colorado with incredible songwriters where we unplugged for days and just had so much fun,” Bentley said. “To have three songs off this album go No. 1 that are so meaningful to me is something special. If I were to do a writer’s night tomorrow I would play all three of those songs…these songs guided me to where my life is now.”

Pictured: Founder Loic Maestracci speaks to attendees at Music Expo San Francisco 2019. Photo: Nathaniel Costa

Music Expo, the multi-city conference series for music makers, has expanded into Mexico City, Mexico in 2020. Music Expo Mexico will be held at SAE Institute (Mexico City) on Feb. 15 and the series will return to multiple U.S. cities next year including Nashville, Miami, and San Francisco.

Since launching in 2014, Music Expo has more than tripled in attendance and has continued to provide pros and aspiring talent the opportunity to learn from some of the most successful music creators. This year alone, Music Expo presented to 1,400 attendees across three events. In addition, over 100 presenters provided 80+ hours of networking and educational programming including talks and keynote addresses from award-winning producers and engineers.

“Our goal is to continue to exist in places that have a community of music creators, but might not have the same access or resources of cities like Los Angeles or New York. With the support of SAE Institute, we are expanding our mission into Mexico City, where we have identified a community of music creators, and can provide valuable resources and tools that can help them do what they love,” said Loïc Maestracci, Founder of Music Expo. “We continue to grow every year, and that growth has made the decision easy to return to markets like Nashville, Miami and San Francisco. With everything that we do, we try to integrate the attendees with our presenters, and we do that by offering an up-close and interactive experiences for attendees to get-to-know their peers and mentors, and the people they look up to. We are excited to be a one-of-a-kind conference geared toward music makers, and now with a network across cities in the U.S., and for the first time, internationally.”

Jarrod Cooper, Sonny Findley

Nashville-based independent label services company, CmdShft, is launching a distribution and financial management platform. CmdShft’s platform provides clients with the ability to facilitate all financial requirements without the use of third-party intermediaries. The propriety technology not only splits master and composition royalties amongst shareholders, but it also possesses the unique capability of automating the recoupment of expenses an artist or label incurs. Expenses are entered into the system by order of importance, and the percentage rate at which the advance is paid back is set. Additional royalties from prior releases may also be applied to speed up recoupment.

“For decades, rights holders have been required to contact the label or release owner to obtain financial information. We wanted to provide true accounting solutions to better facilitate artist and label incurred expenses. The advent of payment splitting helped collaborators get paid, but also presented a new problem –– WHEN should everyone get paid? Automating expense recoupment solves this antiquated system, removes a huge burden from labels and rights owners, and brings absolute transparency to all collaborators involved,” says Sonny Findley, co-founder of CmdShft.

CmdShft was launched by Findley and Jarrod Cooper to offer clients with distribution, marketing, management and tech solutions. Clients also have access to a 1,500-square-foot recording studio for content creation purposes.

Dustin Lynch has unveiled the track list and artwork for his upcoming album, Tullahoma. Pre-orders for the new album begin today and fans who order will receive an instant grat track, “Momma’s House.”

Lauren Alaina appears on the new collection for a special collaboration with Lynch on “Thinking ‘Bout You,” and writers on the project include Rhett Akins, Dallas Davidson, Zach Crowell, Florida Georgia Line’s Brian Kelley, Old Dominion’s Matt Ramsey, the late producer/songwriter busbee and more.

“Every song on Tullahoma, there’s a reason it’s there,” Lynch explains. “A lot of that points back to the people who raised me, and growing up with a lifestyle where I could go outside and have fun, explore and try new things in the great outdoors,” he says. “It’s kind of about being that kid and learning all those things. That’s my story, but I think we all can relate to the kid who’s discovering, the kid who’s figuring out love for the first time, all that good stuff. In a weird way, I feel like I’m just getting started. I feel like we’re just approaching the launching pad, and I feel like we have songs that will take us to the next level.”

Dustin Lynch’s Tullahoma Track List:
1. “Momma’s House” (Dylan Schneider, Michael Lotten, Rodney Clawson, Justin Wilson)
2. “Dirt Road” (Rhett Akins, Ben Hayslip, David Garcia)
3. “Thinking ‘Bout You” (feat. Lauren Alaina) (Dustin Lynch, Andy Albert, Hunter Phelps, Will Weatherly)
4. “Ridin’ Roads” (Dustin Lynch, Ashley Gorley, Zach Crowell)
5. “Old Country Song” (Josh Miller, Bryan Simpson, Josh Jenkins)
6. “The World Ain’t Yours and Mine” (Matt Ramsey, Luke Laird, Rodney Clawson)
7. “Country Star” (Dustin Lynch, Brian Kelley, Corey Crowder, Jordan Schmidt)
8. “Workin’ On You” (busbee, Ashley Gorley, Rhett Akins)
9. “Little Town Livin’” (Dustin Lynch, Ben Hayslip, Zach Crowell, Rhett Akins)
10. “Red Dirt, Blue Eyes” (Dustin Lynch, Kyle Fishman, Dallas Davidson)
11. “Good Girl” (Dustin Lynch, Justin Ebach, Andy Albert)