Clint Black Donates Proceeds From Bluebird Cafe Performance To NSAI

Earlier this month, The Bluebird Cafe held “An Evening With Clint Black” welcoming the legendary artist for an intimate evening of song. The event sold-out within one minute.

Black chose to honor another cornerstone in the songwriting community, the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI), generously donating all proceeds from the night to NSAI to support their continued work for songwriters.

 

Moe Bandy Honored At 2023 Texas Country Music Awards

Moe Bandy was presented with the first-ever Moe Bandy Icon Award at the 2023 Texas Country Music Awards (TCMAs) on Nov. 12 at Billy Bob’s Texas.

Cody Canada & The Departed, Coffey Anderson, Chad Cooke Band, Monty Dawson, Brandon Rhyder, Case Hardin, Payton Howie, Ryder Grimes, Jaret Ray Reddick and Jacob Stelly performed throughout the awards ceremony, which was hosted once again by TCMA Spokesperson Rhyder along with his co-host Malone Ranger, on-air personality with 95.9 KFWR The Ranch.

“The evening was a dream come true in every way,” shares Bandy. “I have had a wonderful career in country music. To have an award created that will continue to be given out year after year is very humbling. I am thankful to the good Lord above, my family and all of my fans. I am a blessed man.”

 

Cassadee Pope, SOLID, IEBA Unite For Student Scholarship Competition

Society of Leaders in Development (SOLID) recently concluded its second-annual Scholarship Marketing Competition for music business students. Sponsored by the International Entertainment Buyers Association (IEBA), the competition’s top prize was awarded to the group that received the highest score on their marketing campaign presentation aligned with Cassadee Pope‘s upcoming album and brand transition.

As an added value to the students, each team not only left with prize money based on their team placement, but also received an industry resource guide curated by SOLID’s Ambassadorship committee, offering a comprehensive toolkit for career advancement including job-hunting strategies, resume building and cover letter-writing tips, recommended industry newsletters and more.

IEBA’s Executive Director Pam Matthews and Director of Operations Jason Conner provided insight on the presentations. Judges included Rio Van Risseghem (The Orchard), Amanda Quinton (Quinton Digital), Grace Hawkins (Quinton Digital), Lyndsey McFarlane (Quinton Digital) and Pope herself.

“I was incredibly impressed with the students’ presentations and truly believe they all will find meaningful positions within the music industry,” says Pope. “Nobody has their ear to the ground like these students, and that was made very clear by their innovative ideas and attention to detail. I will absolutely be using some of what they pitched during my album promo!”

Music label and distribution company ONErpm has launched two new entities, ONErpm Enterprise Solutions and OFFstep.com, bringing the total number of entities under the company’s umbrella to five with ONErpm’s publishing division and creative arm ONErpm Studios.

ONErpm Enterprise Solutions is a Software as a Service (SAAS) platform that adapts ONErpm’s proprietary Content Management System (CMS) to cater to the specific needs of record labels and content owners seeking to grow more efficiently. This comprehensive administrative system streamlines digital distribution of music, videos and other essential day-to-day operations, such as managing artist marketing campaigns, assigning work tasks to departmental employees, setting up payments and more. The platform empowers companies to efficiently scale operations with transparency. Since the inception of ONErpm’s CMS in 2019, the company has experienced a more than fourfold increase in revenues and staff, largely due to economies of scale achieved.

Enterprise Solutions will also serve as a vehicle for strategic joint ventures with promising entities, as the technology can be combined with financial investments and marketing services.

“We want to partner with like-minded companies who need the technology and tools we have developed and fine-tuned over the years to take their business to the next level,” says ONErpm CEO Emmanuel Zunz. “We see a need for this service as there are many interesting labels that might struggle to grow in an increasingly competitive environment where having robust tech will give them the competitive edge to succeed.”

OFFstep.com is Enterprise Solutions first project and the group’s new DIY offering, where independent artists can upload and distribute unlimited releases for as low as $12 per year while retaining 100 percent of their royalties. As a result, ONErpm will only partner with artists and labels with whom it has forged relationships, and DIY clients will be directed to OFFstep moving forward.

With this entity, the company seeks to better cater to the needs of DIY customers in a way they have become accustomed to, at the most competitive price point. Upgrades to intermediate and advanced plans that unlock additional features and permissions are also available.

“Migrating ONErpm’s basic distribution service to OFFstep has been a long time coming,” states Zunz. “For years we have invested in marketing personnel and built a global marketing infrastructure that can render services at scale while tackling the challenges of a constantly evolving digital market.”

Emmylou Harris, Charlie McCoy, Nashville Jazz Orchestra and the McCrary Sisters are among the lineup for this year’s “Nashville Unlimited Christmas” benefit at Christ Church Cathedral on Dec. 12.

Other artists who will appear include Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley, Portara Ensemble and many more musicians, plus surprise guests. The popular holiday tradition is in its 24th year, and has raised over half a million dollars for Room in the Inn and the work the organization does for Nashville’s homeless community. “Nashville Unlimited Christmas” is produced and hosted by bassist Dave Pomeroy, with singer-songwriter Don Henry as co-host.

The annual concert is free, with a $20 suggested minimum donation. This year the concert will also be streamed live, at christcathedral.org, with a donation link. Online donations can be made anytime at nashvilleunlimitedchristmas.org.

“In addition to our musical guests, we are fortunate to have Brad Hall, Dave Sinko and a world-class video and audio team to record and stream this special concert honoring the work of Room in the Inn and its cofounder Charlie Strobel, who passed away earlier this year,” says Pomeroy. “I want to thank all our performers and crew for their incredible generosity in donating their time and skills to help raise money for this important cause. We are also very grateful to everyone at Christ Church Cathedral for once again providing their magnificent church and great support staff, and we salute Room in the Inn for the amazing work they do every day to help those less fortunate than ourselves. That’s the Christmas Spirit and the Nashville Way!”

Jordan Minton has sold a portion of his catalog and signed a new go-forward deal with Sony Music Publishing Nashville.

The deal includes Minton’s No. 1 hits “Good Time” by Niko Moon and “Best Thing Since Backroads” by Jake Owen, and was coordinated by Hit Ranch, a local catalog sales brokerage firm helmed by Grammy-winning songwriter Jordan Reynolds and business partner Nick Burnett.

Minton is currently climbing the country charts as a co-writer on Dan + Shay‘s “Save Me The Trouble.” He has also had songs recorded by Keith Urban, Kane Brown, Morgan Wallen, Dustin Lynch and more.

“I am so pumped to have landed with an incredible team at Sony and can’t wait to see what we will do together,” shares Minton. “I’m grateful to my buddies at Hit Ranch for their expertise in guiding me through the catalog sale process.”

Sony Music Publishing Nashville VP of Creative, Anna Weisband, says, “We are so proud to welcome Jordan to the SMP family. He is such a talented songwriter and an even better person. We are excited to see what this new chapter of his career brings!”

“Jordan is such a talented writer, and we worked hard to find the right deal for him, not only in catalog value but in finding the right partner moving forward,” says Reynolds. “We believe this is a great fit for Jordan and can’t wait to watch his career continue to thrive.”