Pictured (L-R): Rory Levine, Vice President, Digital Strategy & Engagement; Haley Montgomery, Manager, Awards & Membership; and David Sassano, Executive Assistant to Academy of Country Music CEO, Damon Whiteside.

The Academy of Country Music has announced new hires within three departments. Rory Levine joins as Vice President, Digital Strategy & Engagement; Haley Montgomery has been named Manager, Awards & Membership; and David Sassano is now Executive Assistant to Academy of Country Music CEO Damon Whiteside.

Levine joins the Academy of Country Music most recently from The Atlantic where he led consumer recruitment and registration efforts, supporting a slate of 150+ premiere live journalism events staged across the U.S. Prior to that, he served as Vice President, Marketing and Audience Engagement at CMT, heading consumer-facing advertising campaigns, promotional partnerships, and social media activation. Over the last year, he has worked as a marketing and brand strategy consultant for a variety of businesses, including the Grand Ole Opry, Blake Shelton’s Ole Red restaurants, public-private partnership state organization Launch Tennessee, and user-generated content showcase tool TINT.

In his role at the Academy, Levine is responsible for building and executing strategies for the organization’s digital portfolio, aiming to build and develop authentic communities across platforms. Levine reports to Whiteside, and can be reached at rory@acmcountry.com.

Originally from Huntsville, Alabama, Montgomery joins the Academy of Country Music as Manager, Awards & Membership. Previous stops for Montgomery include Opry Entertainment Group (OEG) as Manager for the Artist & Label Relations team, where she served as a liaison between artists’ teams and the various properties across the OEG portfolio. Montgomery spent three years working on the strategic partnership team at the Country Music Association. There, she managed the assets owed to CMA’s 50+ brand partners across the team for all of their tent pole events. Her previous personal accounts have included Vera Bradley, Playstation, Crocs, KIND bars, Philosophy, Rent the Runway, Monster, Cracker Barrel and more.

In her role as Manager, Montgomery is responsible for supporting all initiatives and development of the Academy’s membership, as well as spearheading the Awards & Voting processes. Montgomery reports to Tommy Moore, Vice President, Artist & Industry Relations and Board & Governance and can be reached at haley.montgomery@acmcountry.com.

Sassano joins the Academy of Country Music as Executive Assistant to Academy of Country Music CEO Damon Whiteside. Previously, Sassano spent 14 years at Warner Music Group as Director of Operations & Administration. Sassano has been responsible for many duties ranging from supporting C-level executives, organizing board meetings and managing major office moves both in New York and Nashville.

In his current role as Executive Assistant, he will provide administrative support to the CEO, Board of Directors and Executive Team. He reports directly to Whiteside and can be reached at david.sassano@acmcountry.com.

“The Academy is thrilled to welcome Rory, Haley and David to the team,” says Whiteside. “Each of these professionals brings with them valuable expertise and knowledge of the country music industry that we know will provide a fresh perspective to the ACM team, helping to propel us forward in our future endeavors!”

Anderson Benson’s George Anderson and Brent Daughrity on the floor of Lloyd’s of London

Anderson Benson, a privately-held insurance and risk management firm headquartered in Nashville, has been appointed as a Coverholder by Lloyd’s of London for a worldwide Media Liability E&O (errors and omissions) program.

Anderson Benson has been covering songwriting, composing, producing, creating, and distribution; licensed or original music content; all forms of dissemination including online, commercial release, streaming, TV commercials, background music for programs and movies; actions for emotional distress arising from the music content and associated advertising and promotional videos and more since inception.

The firm’s coverage is made up of Music, Publishing, Film, and Social Influencing and is tailored for each sector including songwriters, composers, music catalogues, artists, record labels, music publishers and social influencers. Anderson Benson’s coverage is broad in form but the key component is music copyright, including affirmative cover for royalties forming part of a damages settlement.

Now, as an appointed coverholder by Lloyd’s of London, Anderson Benson has expanded its coverage and now has the authority to underwrite, make decisions and issue coverage in-house.

“This coverage is critical in today’s environment for a lot of reasons,” says George Anderson, president and co-founder of the firm. “It had not been modernized in years, so this is revolutionary from an insurance and risk management standpoint in that it’s been years since this coverage has been updated. The world changes about every six months now, and this coverage is very nimble in that way. It’s changing on a monthly basis and our coverage very fluid on terms. Social influencers were not even a part of this a year ago, now it’s a very large part of it.”

Brent Daughrity, a partner at Anderson Benson, speaks on the value of social media content as intellectual property, and how social influencers can benefit from protection. “It’s no different than a song. It’s original content that is filmed, produced and released. The big thing is protecting them in the event that a suit is brought alleging infringement in some way.”

Additionally, Anderson Benson can protect social influencers from regulatory fines—a fee that can be accrued when a social media post does not disclose a paid advertising agreement—as well as NFTs (non-fungible tokens) and future unknown risks.

“What we have done is created wording within the policy forms to pick up these new exposures,” Daughrity says. “Prior, the forms were really black and white, associated with a true songwriter or true film producer. That’s the flexibility of being appointed Coverholders with Lloyd’s. We have the ability to manuscript coverage as needed.”

Anderson sums, “Copyright infringement, intellectual property, errors and omissions, those are all critical risks and perils that protect anybody’s balance sheet—whether it be the owner of a catalog, a songwriter, a social influencer, or anyone in between.”

The Ryman Auditorium

Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium has announced its annual Ryman Community Day will take place Sunday, May 30. Presented by PNC Bank and supporting partners Farm Bureau Health Plans, Hiller and Nissan, complimentary self-guided tours will be available from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. free of charge with presentation of a valid Tennessee state ID.

“We are thrilled to safely welcome back full-capacity daytime tours at the Ryman, and there is no better way to do that than with Ryman Community Day,” says Gary Levy, Ryman Auditorium General Manager. “Events like these signal the resurgence of Downtown Nashville, and together with PNC, our neighbors at the National Museum of African American Music, local artists and all of our great partners, we look forward to safely hosting thousands of guests throughout the day as we’ve done in past years.”

The Ryman and PNC, in conjunction with 650 AM WSM, the National Museum of African American Music and Jefferson Street Sound Museum, will provide free live music throughout the day from 50 Shades of Hay, Bizz & Everyday People, The Magi, Miss Tess and Saaneah. Guests are also encouraged to bring non-perishable food items as part of a community-wide food drive in partnership with Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee.

Once inside the Mother Church of Country Music, guests will see genuine artifacts and enjoy videos with hosts Sheryl Crow, Marty Stuart, Nicole Kidman, Ricky Skaggs, Robin Roberts and Trisha Yearwood that take them through each chapter of the Ryman’s illustrious history. Fans also will be able to have their picture taken on stage where so many legends have stood before them.

“The Ryman Auditorium is a first-class entertainment venue in the heart of the city and we are excited to help more members of the community enjoy it through Ryman Community Day,” says Mike Johnson, PNC regional president for Tennessee. “At a time when we are slowly returning toward normalcy, what better way to connect communities, neighborhoods and generations together through the power of music to create a stronger, more vibrant region.”

Safety procedures and training have been implemented at the venue to help promote guest safety. Ryman Auditorium strictly complies with safety regulations set forth by Metro Nashville that include mandatory masks indoors for all guests and staff and enhanced cleaning practices. For complete details and more information about the safety precautions, please visit ryman.com.

Two-time Grammy Award winner and multi-Platinum recording artist Lauren Daigle has announced an exclusive online streaming event to take place on June 6 at the Ryman Auditorium.

A Night at The Ryman with Lauren Daigle and Friends features never before seen collaborations with multi-Platinum recording artist Jon Foreman of Switchfoot, Grammy Award winner and five-time CMA nominee Natalie Hemby of The Highwomen, singer-songwriter Ellie Holcomb, and Petey Martin.

“Sharing the stage and collaborating with other musicians has always been a high-point of any live show for me,” shares Daigle. “To be joined with some of my dearest friends for a night of music and fun is such a blessing and makes me eager to be able to get back on the road!”

The stream is available for fans in the US and Canada at two different times on June 6, 6:30 p.m. ET and 6:30 p.m. PT. A limited number of VIP tickets are also available which include an intimate virtual Q&A with Daigle, livestream access, and exclusive behind the scenes content. Tickets can be purchased at LaurenDaigle.com and include a 48-hour replay of the broadcast. $1 from every ticket sold will be donated to the Price Fund, Daigle’s foundation.

Since the release of her Grammy award winning, Platinum certified album Look Up Child, Lauren Daigle has reigned on the Billboard Charts. The album debuted at No. 3 on the Top 200 Albums chart while the crossover hit, “You Say,” became the longest-running No. 1 song of any genre on the weekly Billboard Hot charts for an incredible 125 weeks.