BMI Reduces Workforce By Almost 10 Percent

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In an email sent to the BMI staff last week, President and CEO Mike O’Neill announced that the PRO would be reducing its total workforce by just under 10% via a headcount reduction and the decision to leave a number of current open positions unfilled.

According to a source at BMI, the headcount reduction accounted for fewer than 30 people. Though it is unclear how many of the layoffs affected BMI’s Nashville branch, former Sr. Director of Events & Partnerships, Erica Glidewell, and Director Corporate Travel and Relations, Mary Loving, were reportedly among the group.

In an email obtained by MusicRow, O’Neill writes, “These decisions are never easy as they involve our colleagues and changes to the way we operate. At the same time, they are necessary for us to ensure that we are best positioned for continued success in the future.”

O’Neill continues, “We learned some important lessons during the pandemic about how we could operate more effectively. Unlike many other companies, we made a concerted effort to maintain headcount as COVID took hold, the right decision for us at that time. As we emerged from the pandemic, it became clear that there were areas in our workforce that needed adjustment.”

He goes on to say that though BMI has continued to “outperform the competition,” the PRO’s success doesn’t mean the company should not “take a critical look at our business and ensure we are operating in the most efficient and effective way possible, particularly as we head into uncertain economic times.”

This is a developing story…

Nina Jenkins Fisher Rises To Sr. Director, Creative At Jody Williams Songs

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Nina Jenkins Fisher. Photo: Aubrey Wise

Nina Jenkins Fisher has been promoted to Senior Director of Creative at Jody Williams Songs.

Rising from her post as Creative Director at the company, Fisher has helped double the roster at Jody Williams Songs. Her first signing came in early 2021 with Peytan Porter, resulting in the company releasing their first master recordings.

“Nina is a strategic thinker; every move she makes has meaning and purpose,” shares founder Jody Williams. “First, Nina has a real knack for discovering talent. Then, she tees up our writers’ calendars with goal-oriented sessions, expertly communicating their strengths with other publishers. Her efforts in the artist development area are equally impressive. She is as comfortable with Vince Gill as she is with a newly signed writer. I attribute much of our growth and the company’s future trajectory to her sensibilities and savvy.”

“Launching Jody Williams Songs has been, by far, the greatest joy and most rewarding challenge of my career,” reflects Jenkins Fisher. “I’m beyond grateful to continue working with Jody, whose ability to inspire creatives is truly without match. I walk into work every day completely in awe of my writers and my team. The hallmark of the company is our distinctive music and I’m excited to see where the music will take us next.”

Having recently celebrated their first No. 1 song with Ashley McBryde and Carly Pearce‘s “Never Wanted to Be That Girl,” JWS also represents a roster via traditional publishing deals with partner Warner Chappell Music, including writer-artist Jason Nix, Greg Bates, Jeremy Spillman, Nathan Chapman and Driver Williams. Vince Gill and Natalie Hemby are also represented by Jody Williams Songs.

Luke Combs Claims Spot In The Top 10 On MusicRow Top Songwriter Chart

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Luke Combs. Photo: Jeremy Cowart

Luke Combs pops into the top 10 on the MusicRow Top Songwriter Chart this week. The country superstar checks in at No. 9, up two spots from last week. He’s a co-writer on his own “The Kind Of Love We Make” and “Tomorrow Me,” as well as on Zac Brown Band’s “Out In The Middle.”

Ashley Gorley maintains his spot at the top this week for a third consecutive week with eight songs on the country charts, including Dierks Bentley’s “Gold,” Michael Ray’s “Holy Water,” Dylan Scott’s “New Truck,” Cole Swindell’s “She Had Me At Heads Carolina,” Parmalee’s “Take My Name,” Carly Pearce’s “What He Didn’t Do,” Brett Young’s “You Didn’t” and Morgan Wallen’s “You Proof.”

Ernest Keith Smith (No. 2), Morgan Wallen (No. 3), Mitchell Tenpenny (No. 4) and Chase McGill (No. 5) round out the rest of this week’s top songwriters.

The weekly MusicRow Top Songwriter Chart uses algorithms based upon song activity according to airplay, digital download track sales and streams. This unique and exclusive addition to the MusicRow portfolio is the only songwriter chart of its kind.

Click here to view the full MusicRow Top Songwriter Chart.

Thomas Rhett Adds Canadian Dates To ‘Bring The Bar To You Tour’

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Thomas Rhett is taking his “Bring The Bar To You Tour” into Canada in February, extending the tour with 10 Canadian dates through Feb. 25. Jordan Davis and Kameron Marlowe will open the shows.

Tickets for the new dates will be available for purchase beginning Aug. 26 at thomasrhett.com/.

“It’s been an absolute blast being back out on the road this summer and we are so excited to take the tour to Canada next year,” Rhett shares. “It feels like forever since we were last able to play for those fans. They always bring an insane amount of energy and we cannot wait to get up there and see them again.”

Rhett is currently on the first stretch of his “Bring The Bar To You Tour,” which will visit Shoreline Amphitheatre, Toyota Amphitheatre, and North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre this weekend across the state of California.

“Bring The Bar T0 You Tour” Canadian Dates:
2/9/2023 – Vancouver, BC –  Rogers Arena
2/11/2023 – Edmonton, AB – Rogers Place
2/12/2023 – Calgary, AB – Scotiabank Saddledome
2/16/2023 – Saskatoon, SK – SaskTel Centre
2/17/2023 – Regina, SK – Brandt Centre
2/18/2023 – Winnipeg, MB – Canada Life Centre
2/21/2023 – London, ON – Budweiser Gardens
2/22/2023 – Toronto, ON – Scotiabank Arena
2/24/2023 – Montreal, QC – Bell Centre
2/25/2023 – Ottawa, ON – Canadian Tire Centre

Chris Young & Mitchell Tenpenny Find The Top Of The Charts ‘At The End Of A Bar’

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Mitchell Tenpenny & Chris Young. Photo: Matthew Berinato

This week, multi-Platinum entertainer Chris Young and Riser House/Columbia Nashville/Sony Music Nashville recording artist Mitchell Tenpenny have taken their “At The End Of A Bar” collaboration to the top of the Billboard and Country Aircheck/Mediabase country radio charts.

Included on Young’s Famous Friends (Deluxe Edition), the track marks the singer-songwriter’s 13th No. 1 single as an artist and his 11th trip to the top as a songwriter. Meanwhile, the single also notches Tenpenny’s second No. 1 as an artist and as a songwriter.

Young, Tenpenny and Chris DeStefano wrote “At The End Of A Bar” in February 2021 during a Nashville snowstorm. “It’s a true testament to never skip a day of work because you never know what you might write,” Young says. “It’s also a hell of a lot of fun to sing, and Mitchell Tenpenny and I had entirely too much fun stacking vocals on this, so we had to make it a duet.”

“I’m just so excited to have a number one with this song. It’s a special song and a great story about how it was written. Even cooler to have it with some of my best buddies,” shares Tenpenny. “Chris has become one of my best friends, so to get to celebrate this together is special in itself. And I can’t express enough how amazing Chris DeStefano is. His talent and his energy in the room is unmatched. We’ve written some of my favorite songs together and I’m just honored to share a No. 1 with these incredible men.”

“At The End Of A Bar” is the follow-up to Young’s multi-Platinum, multi-week No. 1, “Famous Friends” with Kane Brown.

Bobby Bones Launches Sports Podcast, ’25 Whistles’

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Multi-media star Bobby Bones is now talking all things football with the launch of his new podcast, 25 Whistles With Bobby Bones (A Football Podcast).

The new podcast, sponsored by DraftKings Sportsbook, is a limited 25-episode series centered around college and NFL football. The first two episodes are available now and will be released every Friday leading up to The Super Bowl.

“It’s been about a decade since my last sports show, so this is me coming out of retirement, off the bench, back to first string…all the puns,” says Bones. “I have some of my friends chatting with me, so it’s like what we do normally, just with microphones and a lot of cool new guests.”

Joining Bones are his sports-obsessed friends, singer-songwriter Adam Hambrick, Kickoff Kevin and Producer Eddie. The inaugural episodes feature legendary sports broadcaster Dan Patrick, Bones’ home team favorite Arkansas Head Coach Sam Pittman, ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky, and Upperhand Fantasy Football’s Faraz Siddiq. Guests on future episodes will include Vanderbilt University’s head football coach Clark Lea and comedian Michael Rapaport.

Along with the new podcast episodes, fans can catch Bones every Monday night as the host of USA Network’s new series, “Snake In The Grass,” a show that tests the limits of participants as they complete challenges while aiming to figure out which person is the “snake” sabotaging the competition.

Bones is the host of the nationally syndicated iHeartRadio program The Bobby Bones Show, which broadcasts to over 185 stations and is the No. 1 country morning show with millions of monthly listeners. The show is a two-time CMA Award winner, four-time ACM Award winner and earned Bones the honor of being the youngest-ever inductee into the prestigious National Radio Hall of Fame.

Maren Morris & Zedd Join Forces Once Again For ‘Make You Say’ Collab

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Maren Morris & Zedd. Photo: Sophia Matinazad

Grammy-winning entertainer Maren Morris and producer Zedd have reunited on their new collaboration, “Make You Say,” featuring production duo BEAUZ.

Written by Zedd, Morris, BEAUZ, Charlie Puth and Jacob Kasher Hindlin, the track follows the duo’s six times Platinum-certified hit collab from 2018, “The Middle,” which has accumulated more than four billion streams worldwide.

YouTube video

“I loved working with Zedd again on ‘Make You Say’ after such a thrill ride with ‘The Middle,’” Morris shares. “It’s such a vibey melody and making the music video was definitely a first for me as far as choreography and animation go. The fans are gonna flip.”

“I started working on this record with Beauz about three or four years ago,” Zedd adds. “We went back and forth slowly, refining the production over the years, and then Charlie and I got in the studio and wrote the topline for the track. Maren recorded a demo of it and sounded phenomenal, so I met her in Nashville, and we recorded the final vocal to ‘Make You Say’ and she took the song to a whole new level. ‘Make You Say’ is the kickoff of a new chapter for me and I can’t wait for the world to hear it.”

Morris’ new album, Humble Quest, is out now and she’s currently making her way around North American on her headlining tour. For a full list of upcoming dates, click here.

Eric Church Releases Previously Exclusive ‘&’ Album To The Public

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Eric Church. Photo: Anthony D’Angio

Eric Church fans everywhere can now enjoy the middle installment of his Heart & Soul triple album. The country superstar’s & album, which was previously available only to his Church Choir fan club, is now available on CD, black vinyl and digitally.

Along with the moving “Through My Ray Bans,” dedicated to the fans he played for at Route 91 Harvest Country Music Festival, the & album also features four new songs–“Do Side,” “Kiss Her Goodbye,” “Mad Man” and “Lone Wolf”–plus his latest single, “Doing Life With Me.”

Like the successful bookends Heart and Soul, & is the result of Church’s time spent sequestered in North Carolina, writing and recording a song a day for nearly a month. The project earned a Best Country Solo Performance Grammy nomination, and also landed atop the Billboard charts.

Church replaced himself at the top of the all-genre Top Album Sales chart in back-to-back weeks, with all three albums landing in the top 10 concurrently. He became the first country artist to simultaneously occupy the two top spots on the Billboard Vinyl Albums chart since its inception in 2011 with Soul and &, respectively.

& Track List
Through My Ray-Bans (Eric Church, Luke Laird, Barry Dean)
Doing Life With Me (Eric Church, Casey Beathard, Jeffrey Steele)
Do Side (Eric Church, Casey Beathard)
Kiss Her Goodbye (Eric Church, Casey Beathard)
Mad Man (Eric Church, Casey Beathard)
Lone Wolf (Eric Church, Jeff Hyde, Ryan Tyndell)

Willie Morrison Signs With Edgehill Music Publishing Nashville

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Pictured (L-R): Randy Brown (Prime Focus Management), Tara Joseph (Edgehill), Willie Morrison, Julia Keefe (Edgehill), Josh Joseph (Edgehill)

Willie Morrison has signed a global publishing deal with Edgehill Music Publishing.

The Washington, D.C. native co-wrote “I Smoke Weed,” by Brothers Osborne and Ashland Craft on Hardy’s Hixtape project, as well as Craft’s “Make it Past Georgia,” which has surpassed 12 million streams on Spotify.

Morrison’s co-writers include Ben Johnson, Fraser Churchill, Jon Robert Hall, Craft, Lee Starr, and Maddie Poppe.

“From the first meeting, I knew that Willie was a writer I would love to work with,” says Edgehill Head of A&R Julia Keefe. “Between his drive and ability to craft a song across multiple genres, his addition to the Edgehill roster felt like a no brainer. We are so excited to have him a part of the family!”

“I’m so happy to be partnering with Edgehill,” adds Morrison. “I’m a believer that great people build great companies, and Edgehill embodies that philosophy. The best is yet to come, and there’s no one I’d rather do it with than the amazing team at Edgehill.”

Chart Action: Parker McCollum Scores Most-Added Distinction

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Parker McCollum. Photo: Jim Wright

MCA Nashville artist Parker McCollum is most added this week on the Mediabase and MusicRow CountryBreakout Radio charts with his single “Handle On You.” He gained 49 new station adds on Mediabase and 9 on MusicRow, where he debuted at No. 69.

“Handle On You” was written by McCollum and Monty Criswell with Jon Randall producing the track. The track about reeling from a doomed relationship captures the emotions of grappling with trying to let go of someone you loved.

“I know I have written quite a few songs about heart break and drinking. So here’s another one,” says McCollum.

For more chart data, click here to view the latest edition of The MusicRow Weekly.