Pictured (L-R): Jim Ed Norman, Tony Brown, Joe Galante. Photo: Haley Crow / MusicRow
Founded 30 years ago, Leadership Music has become a mark of excellence in the Nashville music industry. When respected label head and producer Jim Ed Norman found himself inspired by Leadership Nashville, a broad spectrum program for leaders started by Nelson C. Andrews and C. Brent Poulton in 1976, he brought the concept to the figureheads of the Nashville music business community. At a small luncheon in the old Warner Bros. building, Norman proposed a similar program focused on communication and education within the Nashville music industry. The group agreed, resulting in the birth of Leadership Music in 1989.
The founding council for Leadership Music was made up of 12 power players from Nashville’s music industry, including Norman, Rick Blackburn, Tony Brown, Tom Collins, Bill Denny, Joe Galante, Bruce Hinton, Dale Franklin, Bill Ivey, Joe Moscheo, Tandy Rice and Roger Sovine.
Norman, Galante and Brown recently visited the MusicRow offices to discuss the establishment of Leadership Music 30 years ago, as well as its importance to the Nashville music industry with MusicRow‘s Owner/Publisher Sherod Robertson. The article appeared in MusicRow‘s 2019 InCharge, a directory of 388 key decision-making professionals within the Nashville entertainment community.
Leadership Music’s Founding Council with Leadership Nashville founder, Nelson Andrews. Pictured (L-R): Bruce Hinton, Joe Moscheo, Rick Blackburn, Tony Brown, Bill Ivey, Dale Franklin, Jim Ed Norman, Joe Galante, Nelson Andrews, Bill Denny, Roger Sovine, and Tom Collins. Not pictured is Founding Council member Tandy Rice.
“We had a framework because of Leadership Nashville,” said founding council member and renowned music industry executive Joe Galante. “That was such a great program for us to follow. What Leadership Nashville does is cover the city–an even more daunting challenge than what we were about to do. This is probably the only town you could pull this off in. This is not, in my mind, an exportable model, not only because of the dedication of the founding council, but of everybody that came after.”
The goal was clear from the start: inspire camaraderie amongst the companies within the Nashville entertainment industry, provide an education of various roles, and improve communication up and down Music Row. The council went to work on creating program days and activities that would benefit the first class of attendees. “We had many new people moving to town. Some people had been friends for a long time, but there were a lot of new people coming in. Leadership Nashville had been such a great catalyst for bringing people together of diverse opinions and points of view,” said Norman.
Galante added, “You would think after all these years, we would know more about each other’s jobs, and that’s what Leadership Music does. Not only does it give you the ‘Rolodex’ and the introductions to people, but it gives you the knowledge that you didn’t have before. That was Nelson’s vision for Leadership Nashville. Jim Ed took up the challenge and then we all rallied around him. I actually think it’s helped strengthen the town.”
Pictured (L-R): Owen Bradley, Chet Atkins, and Scott Hendricks.
Creating significant change was crucial to the mission of Leadership Nashville, as well as Leadership Music. Norman recalled, “At the end of each year at the Leadership Nashville graduation, Nelson Andrews would say, ‘Okay. You’ve had this amazing experience. You’ve gotten a chance to meet people from different facets of the community. You see how it operates and works, and you’ve been inspired, hopefully, by all of that. What are you going to do with it?’”
When Leadership Music started, the music industry as a whole looked very different. Vinyl was on its way out, country music was fighting for its own charts and although artists and songwriters were making money, the genre had not gained universal acceptance or recognition outside of Nashville. This was about to change. The offices up and down Music Row, that were reporting to their parent companies in New York or L.A., were about to be heard.
“We were an island to ourselves to a large degree,” Galante said. “The reality was that it was a real investment in education for the executives in this town, which I think only strengthened us. We did have people here that were tied in, but this really strengthened that process to bring speakers in from a broad standpoint. We still were considered backwoods by most people. Maybe once or twice a year, you got a New York executive here but they didn’t come on a regular basis, and they couldn’t wait to get the hell out of dodge. When Country Soundscan happens, all of a sudden everybody goes, ‘Hell, you guys are actually selling music down there. When did that start happening!?’ But prior to that we were fighting on a continual basis to get the support, to get the charts to recognize us. All that stuff didn’t happen by itself. I think people forget, to a large degree, when we all started working together, this was largely a regional format.”
Leadership Music not only seeks to identify problems in the music industry, it addresses them and looks for solutions. “It was a male-dominated industry,” Norman said of the time Leadership Nashville was started. “All the stuff that you go through to make sure the class, in any given year, represents not only the particular disciplines, but all the other things that we’re trying to work on in our society and our culture, give the class the chance of becoming a microcosm of America.”
Leadership Music is celebrating its historic 30th year, with alumni totaling more than 1,200, including nearly four dozen current and former heads of record labels; executive directors of the CMA, GMA, CRB, CMF, Folk Alliance, Americana Music Association, International Bluegrass Music Association, International Entertainment Buyers Association and NSAI; executives from The Recording Academy, the National Endowment for the Arts, RIAA, the First Amendment Center, Nashville Symphony, ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, MusicRow, SoundExchange, CMT, GAC; the Country Music Hall of Fame; Microsoft; Samsung, Twitter, Amazon, YouTube, Pandora, two Nashville Mayors, a U.S. Congressman, a past editor of USA Today; deans of three universities, attorneys, accountants, publishers, publicists, journalists, booking agents, artist managers, artists, songwriters, radio executives, entrepreneurs, record producers and engineers, video producers, musicians and bankers.
Getting into Leadership Music was no easy task. Candidates were already established leaders in their varied professions in the music industry, and getting selected was sought after, as Leadership Music quickly became a symbol of status and accomplishment.
“This was music’s version of the Masons, nobody knew what they did,” legendary producer and A&R man Tony Brown joked. “I think this was a great way of networking. If you could get into Leadership Music, you could network with the people you couldn’t get in to see. I loved the fact that it covered everybody from the soldiers up to the executives, and everybody in between. It became a real status symbol– if you could be in the program.”
Thirty years later, Leadership Music remains a symbol of status, and a sought-after opportunity. “There’s been so many organizations that people will poke at and say, ‘It’s been the same group of people for 25 years’,” Galante said. “This group continues to morph, and it reflects the general music business. It doesn’t get stuck, and that is the strength of Leadership Music. It just naturally evolves and adapts to its environment. And that’s the best thing that we could hope for.”
“I think the thing that Leadership Music does do though, is that passion statement,” Galante continued. “All during the program days, as you’re all aware, it’s not just business. It’s the creative and what it means for these artists, and I think people walk away with a newfound respect, because it’s hard. No matter what part of the process it is, everybody in this room signed somebody, believes in it, and you get the shit knocked out of you several times along the way.”
Inspiring leaders have been strengthened from Leadership Music, including the likes of Mike Dungan, Leslie Fram, Bart Herbison, Robert Oermann, Scott Borchetta, Jackie Patillo, Kyle Young, Sally Williams, Terry Wakefield, John Esposito, Dave Cobb, Barry Dean, Liz Rose, Mary Gauthier and many more. Participants make an extensive time commitment when they are selected to Leadership Music. The program lasts eight months, with the first and last meetings being weekend retreats. Within six monthly meetings, which average 12 hours each, the participants make on-site visits around the community, focusing on such subjects as Songwriting/Publishing, the Artist, Studio/Audio, Record Company, Live Music and Media.
Pictured: The first class of Leadership Music displays their certificates in 1989. Members of the first class included: Janice Azrak, Eddie Bayers, Jeffrey Beals, Ed Benson, Connie Bradley, Jerry Bradley, Donald Butler, Vincent Candilora, David Conrad, Tony Conway, Paul Corbin, Tim DuBois, Jim Foglesong, Joanne Gardner, Lon Helton, Scott Hendricks, Stanley Hitchcock, W. Michael Milom, Robert K. Oermann, Kerry O’Neil, Chip Peay, Joyce Rice, Pat Rogers, Thom Schuyler, Nancy Shapiro, Harold Shedd, Connie Westfall, Jack Weston, and Roy Wunsch.
“One of the things I had tried to point out over the course of time is following the money,” Galante said. “I really think part of our responsibility was to show people things like ‘What is a mechanical?’ Most people go ‘Mechanical? What is that?’ Still to this day, I’m always amazed at how often people say, ‘How does that work again?’”
“We have so many people that are coming in from other disciplines around the country, and it helps us stay abreast of the issues,” Galante continued. “I think bringing people in from YouTube and SoundExchange is all good news for us, as opposed to getting the news secondhand.”
Brown suggests that Leadership Music is crucial to the Nashville music business now more than ever. “I think Leadership Music keeps people in line with the fact that the business is so fractured,” he said. “I don’t know everybody at every label like I did back in the day, and I don’t think that’s because I’m not at a record label now. I read every magazine in the music industry, and I stay up on who’s going where. I think that Leadership Music now is probably more important than it was when we started it.”
Galante agreed. “Music still is under-appreciated,” he said. “We’re still going through the same conversation about being compensated and protecting the copyright. How many decades, and we’re still arguing about this stuff. We just include the term ‘metadata’ now, that we never used to talk about, which is an important issue.”
“I remember getting a call at the end of the year from someone who’d been in the business, who was well known, and said, ‘I’ve been in the business for 20 years. What are you going to teach me?’ to start, and at the end it was, ‘I’ve been in the business for 20 years, and I can’t believe what I learned,’” said Norman.
Pictured (L-R): Robert K. Oermann, Brenda Lee, Sally Williams, and Jeff Gregg.
Norman, Galante and Brown are unquestionably in the class of excellence personifying Leadership Music. When it comes to leadership, the three have valuable insights on developing such an important trait.
Norman touts respected United States Army General Norman Schwarzkopf’s notion of leadership, saying, “Schwarzkopf had that wonderful quote on leadership about it being this potent combination of strategy and character and if you must be ‘all in’ on one, make sure it’s character. We would go into these [programs] and be strategizing about business and how to get better. People came to appreciate that we’re in this together and what it meant to maintain high character and integrity as you walk through this process.”
“And it’s a lonely job,” Galante added. “I think that character is essential because if your team doesn’t trust you, you have the basis removed. [This includes] being able to listen, seek as much council as you possibly can before you make a decision, and let people feel like they have been heard. You may not agree with them, but that’s your responsibility. And there’s the accountability–you have to be able to stand up and say, ‘I made that decision. Yes, I’m responsible for that. I’ll take the hit.’”
Brown referred back to his star-making days at RCA, saying, “I think the employees have to know you have a passion, and that you have knowledge about what’s happening and what’s going to happen, and standing up for the history of the music that you’re working in. They have to think that you know what you’re doing. You’ve got to have taste. You can have good taste, and good taste could mean commercial music that sells, but then you’ve got to have taste that is a little eclectic, to where they think you’ve got a set of balls and you have blind faith.”
“It’s really your ability to provide insight, inspire, to be there, available for counsel,” Jim Ed Norman summarized. “ I think it might have been Colin Powell that said, ‘When a soldier stops bringing you their problems, is when you stop being a leader.’ You have to build an environment that encourages people to feel comfortable and safe, to tell you the truth, and you have to be prepared to listen to the truth and respond to it as productively as you can. I think the number one trait is character and integrity.”
Pictured: Tim DuBois
The three music industry giants also keep close to heart that even though the music business is a business, the music and artists must remain the prime focus.
“We can get consumed with the business,” said Norman. “It’s vital to remember that the business is built on the shoulders of artists, and they hold us up.”
“We are in the artist business,” Galante agreed. “I used to tell people all the time they are the ones in front of the microphone. Our job is to support them.”
2019 MusicRow Awards Category Profile: Breakthrough Artist-Writer of the Year
/by Sarah SkatesFollowing Monday’s (May 13) announcement of this year’s nominees for the 31st annual MusicRow Awards, we take a closer look at the Breakthrough Artist-Writer of the Year category. Voted by MusicRow’s subscribed members, the category honors a Nashville songwriter and artist who for the first time wrote or co-wrote a Top 10 song.
The MusicRow Awards will be presented at a invitation-only ceremony on June 26.
See the full list of nominees.
Winners are determined solely by MusicRow subscribers. Voting closes on May 21 at 5 p.m. If you do not have a subscription, you may subscribe to receive a ballot.
2019 Breakthrough Artist-Writer of the Year nominees:
Jimmie Allen co-wrote his No. 1 single “Best Shot” with fellow MusicRow Awards nominees Josh London and JP Williams. The song made history as the first time a black artist took their first-ever single to No. 1 at country radio, and the first time since 2012 a debut single spent three weeks at No. 1. Following that success, Allen’s “Make Me Want To” was most added at country radio in its first week. It’s the second single off his debut album Mercury Lane.
Seth Ennis is nominated in this category for co-writing “Hooked,” with fellow nominee Morgan Evans, and 2018 nominee Lindsay Rimes. Dylan Scott’s recording of the song went to No. 2 and is certified Gold. Ennis is multi-talented—he co-wrote, co-produced and played all the instruments on his own debut single, “Woke Up In Nashville.” For his current single, “Call Your Mama,” Ennis collaborated with fellow 2019 MusicRow Awards nominees Michael Hardy and Jordan Reynolds.
Morgan Evans was co-writer of two big country hits during the eligibility period: his own U.S. debut single “Kiss Somebody,” and “Hooked,” recorded by Dylan Scott. “Hooked” was written with fellow Breakthrough Artist-Writer nominee Seth Ennis, and 2018 Breakthrough Songwriter nominee Lindsay Rimes. Australian-born Evans penned his No. 1, “Kiss Somebody,” with Chris DeStefano and 2019 Male Songwriter of the Year nominee Josh Osborne. Evans followed that success with currently rising single “Day Drunk.”
Riley Green is nominated for co-writing his Top 5 hit “There Was This Girl.” He penned the song with Breakthrough Songwriter nominee Erik Dylan, and they also collaborated on Green’s other recently-released tune “Bettin’ Man” alongside Jonathan Singleton. Green also co-wrote his brand new single “In Love By Now.” He is an Alabama native who built a following by touring the Southeast and will continue on the road this summer with Brad Paisley.
HARDY charted two No. 1s as a songwriter during the eligibility period: “Simple” recorded by Florida Georgia Line, and “Up Down,” recorded by Morgan Wallen ft. FGL. HARDY wrote “Simple” with FGL’s Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley along with 2019 Breakthrough Songwriter nominee Mark Holman. For “Up Down,” HARDY collaborated with fellow nominees Brad Clawson and CJ Solar. HARDY’s own debut single “Rednecker” is on the charts, as is his co-write, “God’s Country,” recorded by Blake Shelton.
CJ Solar co-wrote “Up Down” with fellow 2019 nominees Brad Clawson and HARDY, and the recording by Morgan Wallen ft. Florida Georgia Line became a No. 1 hit. While experiencing success as a songwriter, Solar also scored as an artist. His singles “Airplane” and “American Girls” reached No. 15 on the MusicRow Chart, helping him earn the MusicRow CountryBreakout Award for Independent Artist of the Year. Solar also has credits on singles by Jerrod Niemann and Kyle Park.
CMA Reveals Awards Ballot Schedule, Opens Submissions For Broadcast Awards
/by Jessica NicholsonThe balloting timeline for the upcoming Country Music Association Awards has been revealed, with an eligibility period from July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2019.
The first ballot and instructions will be emailed Monday, July 8 to CMA members in good standing who are eligible to vote. Voting for the first ballot closes Wednesday, July 17 (6 p.m. CT).
The second ballot will be emailed to CMA members Monday, Aug. 12. Voting for the second ballot closes Tuesday, Aug. 20 (6 p.m. CT). The final nominees in each of the 12 categories will be announced later this summer.
Winners of The 53rd Annual CMA Awards will be determined in a final round of voting by eligible voting CMA members. The third and final ballot will be emailed to CMA members Tuesday, Oct. 1.
Voting for the CMA Awards final ballot ends Thursday, Oct. 24 (6 p.m. CT).
Eligible members of the Country Music Association can now submit applications online for the 2019 CMA Broadcast Awards for Broadcast Personality, Station and National Broadcast Personality of the Year at broadcast.CMAawards.com.
CMA Broadcast Awards are presented for Personality and Station of the Year in four categories that are determined by market size (Major, Large, Medium and Small), as well as CMA National Broadcast Personality of the Year.
To submit an entry, CMA member radio stations and broadcast personalities in the U.S. and Canada can log on to broadcast.CMAawards.com, where guidelines and instructions for entries are posted. The site will continue to accept submissions until June 30, 2019 (5:00 PM/CT). All CMA Broadcast Awards entries must reflect performances and events between June 1, 2018 and May 31, 2019. CMA’s panel of judges, which includes distinguished radio and industry professionals, will be able to view and evaluate each entry online.
CMA Broadcast Awards winners will be notified in early October and recognized at The 53rd Annual CMA Awards, which will be held in November in Nashville. The annual, three-hour awards ceremony will broadcast live on the ABC Television Network. Nominees and winners for the 2019 CMA Broadcast Awards and The 53rd Annual CMA Awards are determined by more than 7,400 professional members of CMA, which is the first trade organization formed to promote an individual genre of music, established in 1958.
CMA Awards ballots are tabulated by the professional services organization Deloitte.
CMA Reveals Awards Ballot Schedule, Opens Submissions For Broadcast Awards
/by Jessica NicholsonThe first ballot and instructions will be emailed Monday, July 8 to CMA members in good standing who are eligible to vote. Voting for the first ballot closes Wednesday, July 17 (6 p.m. CT).
The second ballot will be emailed to CMA members Monday, Aug. 12. Voting for the second ballot closes Tuesday, Aug. 20 (6 p.m. CT). The final nominees in each of the 12 categories will be announced later this summer.
Winners of The 53rd Annual CMA Awards will be determined in a final round of voting by eligible voting CMA members. The third and final ballot will be emailed to CMA members Tuesday, Oct. 1.
Voting for the CMA Awards final ballot ends Thursday, Oct. 24 (6 p.m. CT).
Eligible members of the Country Music Association can now submit applications online for the 2019 CMA Broadcast Awards for Broadcast Personality, Station and National Broadcast Personality of the Year at broadcast.CMAawards.com.
CMA Broadcast Awards are presented for Personality and Station of the Year in four categories that are determined by market size (Major, Large, Medium and Small), as well as CMA National Broadcast Personality of the Year.
To submit an entry, CMA member radio stations and broadcast personalities in the U.S. and Canada can log on to broadcast.CMAawards.com, where guidelines and instructions for entries are posted. The site will continue to accept submissions until June 30, 2019 (5:00 PM/CT). All CMA Broadcast Awards entries must reflect performances and events between June 1, 2018 and May 31, 2019. CMA’s panel of judges, which includes distinguished radio and industry professionals, will be able to view and evaluate each entry online.
CMA Broadcast Awards winners will be notified in early October and recognized at The 53rd Annual CMA Awards, which will be held in November in Nashville. The annual, three-hour awards ceremony will broadcast live on the ABC Television Network. Nominees and winners for the 2019 CMA Broadcast Awards and The 53rd Annual CMA Awards are determined by more than 7,400 professional members of CMA, which is the first trade organization formed to promote an individual genre of music, established in 1958.
CMA Awards ballots are tabulated by the professional services organization Deloitte.
Dave Pittenger Inks With Big Yellow Dog Music
/by Lorie HollabaughPictured (L-R): Carla Wallace, Big Yellow Dog Music; T.D. Ruth, Sterling Rooks Hunter McKoy Worob & Averill LP; Dave Pittenger; Lauren Funk, Big Yellow Dog Music; Jacee Badeaux, Big Yellow Dog Music
Dave Pittenger has signed with Big Yellow Dog Music.
Pittenger has penned songs for Tyler Farr, Jessie James Decker, Parmalee, and more and has had commercial placement of his songs in national TV ads for Pizza Hut, Cablevision, Colgate, and Biofenac.
“Working at Big Yellow Dog Music has given me the opportunity to work with some of the top writers in this industry,” says Senior Creative Director Lauren Funk. “When I met Dave, I heard his talent and saw his dedication for music. I knew he was the caliber of writer who has walked these halls and written hit songs in these rooms. We are so excited to have Dave be a part of our Big Yellow Dog team and we look forward to helping guide his writing and producing career for many years to come.”
Pittenger joins the Big Yellow Dog Music roster from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia with a background in classical and jazz composition. After chasing his music career to New York City, Pittenger has found a home for his multi-faceted artistry working with a wide array of country artists.
Dave Pittenger Inks With Big Yellow Dog Music
/by Lorie HollabaughPictured (L-R): Carla Wallace, Big Yellow Dog Music; T.D. Ruth, Sterling Rooks Hunter McKoy Worob & Averill LP; Dave Pittenger; Lauren Funk, Big Yellow Dog Music; Jacee Badeaux, Big Yellow Dog Music
Dave Pittenger has signed with Big Yellow Dog Music.
Pittenger has penned songs for Tyler Farr, Jessie James Decker, Parmalee, and more and has had commercial placement of his songs in national TV ads for Pizza Hut, Cablevision, Colgate, and Biofenac.
“Working at Big Yellow Dog Music has given me the opportunity to work with some of the top writers in this industry,” says Senior Creative Director Lauren Funk. “When I met Dave, I heard his talent and saw his dedication for music. I knew he was the caliber of writer who has walked these halls and written hit songs in these rooms. We are so excited to have Dave be a part of our Big Yellow Dog team and we look forward to helping guide his writing and producing career for many years to come.”
Pittenger joins the Big Yellow Dog Music roster from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia with a background in classical and jazz composition. After chasing his music career to New York City, Pittenger has found a home for his multi-faceted artistry working with a wide array of country artists.
Charles Esten Signs With APA
/by Lorie HollabaughCharles Esten. Photo: Christie Goodwin
Nashville star Charles Esten has signed with APA for music representation.
Since his appearance on the drama series, Esten has performed hundreds of live concerts over the last six years, including three sold-out Nashville In Concert shows at London’s Royal Albert Hall. He has also performed at the C2C Festival in the O2 Arena, the CMC Festival in Australia, Stagecoach in California, CMA Fest in Nashville, as well as The Bluebird Café, The Ryman Auditorium, and The Grand Ole Opry—where he made his 100th appearance last summer.
In January, Esten completed his first sold-out 12-city solo tour through the UK and The Netherlands, with plans to return to the UK this October. He also made musical history when he earned a Guinness World Records title for his #EverySingleFriday campaign, which yielded 54 original songs that he wrote, recorded and released once a week for 54 consecutive weeks. The songs have already been streamed worldwide nearly eight million times.
Esten, who also currently stars in the upcoming Netflix YA drama Outer Banks, is a Virginia native who started his acting career in L.A. before making his theatrical debut portraying Buddy Holly in London’s hit West End musical Buddy. Esten’s other credits include an upcoming recurring role on TNT’s Tell Me Your Secrets, as well as recurring roles on Disney Channel’s Jessie, HBO’s Enlightened and Big Love, and NBC’s ER. Feature credits include Swing Vote, Thirteen Days, and The Postman. Esten continues to be represented by manager Patty Puskar, Loeb & Loeb Nashville, and Artists & Representatives for theatrical.
Charles Esten Signs With APA
/by Lorie HollabaughCharles Esten. Photo: Christie Goodwin
Nashville star Charles Esten has signed with APA for music representation.
Since his appearance on the drama series, Esten has performed hundreds of live concerts over the last six years, including three sold-out Nashville In Concert shows at London’s Royal Albert Hall. He has also performed at the C2C Festival in the O2 Arena, the CMC Festival in Australia, Stagecoach in California, CMA Fest in Nashville, as well as The Bluebird Café, The Ryman Auditorium, and The Grand Ole Opry—where he made his 100th appearance last summer.
In January, Esten completed his first sold-out 12-city solo tour through the UK and The Netherlands, with plans to return to the UK this October. He also made musical history when he earned a Guinness World Records title for his #EverySingleFriday campaign, which yielded 54 original songs that he wrote, recorded and released once a week for 54 consecutive weeks. The songs have already been streamed worldwide nearly eight million times.
Esten, who also currently stars in the upcoming Netflix YA drama Outer Banks, is a Virginia native who started his acting career in L.A. before making his theatrical debut portraying Buddy Holly in London’s hit West End musical Buddy. Esten’s other credits include an upcoming recurring role on TNT’s Tell Me Your Secrets, as well as recurring roles on Disney Channel’s Jessie, HBO’s Enlightened and Big Love, and NBC’s ER. Feature credits include Swing Vote, Thirteen Days, and The Postman. Esten continues to be represented by manager Patty Puskar, Loeb & Loeb Nashville, and Artists & Representatives for theatrical.
Carrie Underwood, Kane Brown, Dan+Shay, Kelsea Ballerini Added To CMT Music Awards
/by Jessica NicholsonCMT will make history this year as the 2019 CMT Music Awards will be filled with more performances than ever before, featuring superstars Carrie Underwood, Dan + Shay, Kane Brown, Kelsea Ballerini, Luke Bryan, Maren Morris, Thomas Rhett, and more to be announced.
Hosted by award-winning musical talent Little Big Town, the show will air live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday, June 5 at 8 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. CT.
Last week, CMT unveiled the full lineup of artists in the running for this year’s awards. Of the performers announced thus far, singer-songwriter Maren Morris leads the pack with three nominations, including Video of the Year and Female Video of the Year for “GIRL,” in addition to a nomination for CMT Performance of the Year for her collaboration with Brandi Carlile for “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” from the 2018 CMT Artists of the Year special.
Additionally, Carrie Underwood, the most awarded artist in CMT Music Awards history, will make an exciting return to the CMT stage to perform. Underwood is nominated for two awards this year, including Video of the Year for “Cry Pretty” and Female Video of the Year for “Love Wins.”
Fans can vote now for their favorite artists via vote.cmt.com, up until 11:59 p.m. ET on Tuesday, June 4 for all categories. Tickets to the 2019 CMT Music Awards are on sale now at Ticketmaster.com.
Carrie Underwood, Kane Brown, Dan+Shay, Kelsea Ballerini Added To CMT Music Awards
/by Jessica NicholsonCMT will make history this year as the 2019 CMT Music Awards will be filled with more performances than ever before, featuring superstars Carrie Underwood, Dan + Shay, Kane Brown, Kelsea Ballerini, Luke Bryan, Maren Morris, Thomas Rhett, and more to be announced.
Hosted by award-winning musical talent Little Big Town, the show will air live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday, June 5 at 8 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. CT.
Last week, CMT unveiled the full lineup of artists in the running for this year’s awards. Of the performers announced thus far, singer-songwriter Maren Morris leads the pack with three nominations, including Video of the Year and Female Video of the Year for “GIRL,” in addition to a nomination for CMT Performance of the Year for her collaboration with Brandi Carlile for “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” from the 2018 CMT Artists of the Year special.
Additionally, Carrie Underwood, the most awarded artist in CMT Music Awards history, will make an exciting return to the CMT stage to perform. Underwood is nominated for two awards this year, including Video of the Year for “Cry Pretty” and Female Video of the Year for “Love Wins.”
Fans can vote now for their favorite artists via vote.cmt.com, up until 11:59 p.m. ET on Tuesday, June 4 for all categories. Tickets to the 2019 CMT Music Awards are on sale now at Ticketmaster.com.
LEADERSHIP: A Conversation 30 Years In The Making With Jim Ed Norman, Tony Brown, And Joe Galante
/by LB CantrellPictured (L-R): Jim Ed Norman, Tony Brown, Joe Galante. Photo: Haley Crow / MusicRow
Founded 30 years ago, Leadership Music has become a mark of excellence in the Nashville music industry. When respected label head and producer Jim Ed Norman found himself inspired by Leadership Nashville, a broad spectrum program for leaders started by Nelson C. Andrews and C. Brent Poulton in 1976, he brought the concept to the figureheads of the Nashville music business community. At a small luncheon in the old Warner Bros. building, Norman proposed a similar program focused on communication and education within the Nashville music industry. The group agreed, resulting in the birth of Leadership Music in 1989.
The founding council for Leadership Music was made up of 12 power players from Nashville’s music industry, including Norman, Rick Blackburn, Tony Brown, Tom Collins, Bill Denny, Joe Galante, Bruce Hinton, Dale Franklin, Bill Ivey, Joe Moscheo, Tandy Rice and Roger Sovine.
Norman, Galante and Brown recently visited the MusicRow offices to discuss the establishment of Leadership Music 30 years ago, as well as its importance to the Nashville music industry with MusicRow‘s Owner/Publisher Sherod Robertson. The article appeared in MusicRow‘s 2019 InCharge, a directory of 388 key decision-making professionals within the Nashville entertainment community.
Leadership Music’s Founding Council with Leadership Nashville founder, Nelson Andrews. Pictured (L-R): Bruce Hinton, Joe Moscheo, Rick Blackburn, Tony Brown, Bill Ivey, Dale Franklin, Jim Ed Norman, Joe Galante, Nelson Andrews, Bill Denny, Roger Sovine, and Tom Collins. Not pictured is Founding Council member Tandy Rice.
“We had a framework because of Leadership Nashville,” said founding council member and renowned music industry executive Joe Galante. “That was such a great program for us to follow. What Leadership Nashville does is cover the city–an even more daunting challenge than what we were about to do. This is probably the only town you could pull this off in. This is not, in my mind, an exportable model, not only because of the dedication of the founding council, but of everybody that came after.”
The goal was clear from the start: inspire camaraderie amongst the companies within the Nashville entertainment industry, provide an education of various roles, and improve communication up and down Music Row. The council went to work on creating program days and activities that would benefit the first class of attendees. “We had many new people moving to town. Some people had been friends for a long time, but there were a lot of new people coming in. Leadership Nashville had been such a great catalyst for bringing people together of diverse opinions and points of view,” said Norman.
Galante added, “You would think after all these years, we would know more about each other’s jobs, and that’s what Leadership Music does. Not only does it give you the ‘Rolodex’ and the introductions to people, but it gives you the knowledge that you didn’t have before. That was Nelson’s vision for Leadership Nashville. Jim Ed took up the challenge and then we all rallied around him. I actually think it’s helped strengthen the town.”
Pictured (L-R): Owen Bradley, Chet Atkins, and Scott Hendricks.
Creating significant change was crucial to the mission of Leadership Nashville, as well as Leadership Music. Norman recalled, “At the end of each year at the Leadership Nashville graduation, Nelson Andrews would say, ‘Okay. You’ve had this amazing experience. You’ve gotten a chance to meet people from different facets of the community. You see how it operates and works, and you’ve been inspired, hopefully, by all of that. What are you going to do with it?’”
When Leadership Music started, the music industry as a whole looked very different. Vinyl was on its way out, country music was fighting for its own charts and although artists and songwriters were making money, the genre had not gained universal acceptance or recognition outside of Nashville. This was about to change. The offices up and down Music Row, that were reporting to their parent companies in New York or L.A., were about to be heard.
“We were an island to ourselves to a large degree,” Galante said. “The reality was that it was a real investment in education for the executives in this town, which I think only strengthened us. We did have people here that were tied in, but this really strengthened that process to bring speakers in from a broad standpoint. We still were considered backwoods by most people. Maybe once or twice a year, you got a New York executive here but they didn’t come on a regular basis, and they couldn’t wait to get the hell out of dodge. When Country Soundscan happens, all of a sudden everybody goes, ‘Hell, you guys are actually selling music down there. When did that start happening!?’ But prior to that we were fighting on a continual basis to get the support, to get the charts to recognize us. All that stuff didn’t happen by itself. I think people forget, to a large degree, when we all started working together, this was largely a regional format.”
Leadership Music not only seeks to identify problems in the music industry, it addresses them and looks for solutions. “It was a male-dominated industry,” Norman said of the time Leadership Nashville was started. “All the stuff that you go through to make sure the class, in any given year, represents not only the particular disciplines, but all the other things that we’re trying to work on in our society and our culture, give the class the chance of becoming a microcosm of America.”
Getting into Leadership Music was no easy task. Candidates were already established leaders in their varied professions in the music industry, and getting selected was sought after, as Leadership Music quickly became a symbol of status and accomplishment.
“This was music’s version of the Masons, nobody knew what they did,” legendary producer and A&R man Tony Brown joked. “I think this was a great way of networking. If you could get into Leadership Music, you could network with the people you couldn’t get in to see. I loved the fact that it covered everybody from the soldiers up to the executives, and everybody in between. It became a real status symbol– if you could be in the program.”
Thirty years later, Leadership Music remains a symbol of status, and a sought-after opportunity. “There’s been so many organizations that people will poke at and say, ‘It’s been the same group of people for 25 years’,” Galante said. “This group continues to morph, and it reflects the general music business. It doesn’t get stuck, and that is the strength of Leadership Music. It just naturally evolves and adapts to its environment. And that’s the best thing that we could hope for.”
“I think the thing that Leadership Music does do though, is that passion statement,” Galante continued. “All during the program days, as you’re all aware, it’s not just business. It’s the creative and what it means for these artists, and I think people walk away with a newfound respect, because it’s hard. No matter what part of the process it is, everybody in this room signed somebody, believes in it, and you get the shit knocked out of you several times along the way.”
Inspiring leaders have been strengthened from Leadership Music, including the likes of Mike Dungan, Leslie Fram, Bart Herbison, Robert Oermann, Scott Borchetta, Jackie Patillo, Kyle Young, Sally Williams, Terry Wakefield, John Esposito, Dave Cobb, Barry Dean, Liz Rose, Mary Gauthier and many more. Participants make an extensive time commitment when they are selected to Leadership Music. The program lasts eight months, with the first and last meetings being weekend retreats. Within six monthly meetings, which average 12 hours each, the participants make on-site visits around the community, focusing on such subjects as Songwriting/Publishing, the Artist, Studio/Audio, Record Company, Live Music and Media.
Pictured: The first class of Leadership Music displays their certificates in 1989. Members of the first class included: Janice Azrak, Eddie Bayers, Jeffrey Beals, Ed Benson, Connie Bradley, Jerry Bradley, Donald Butler, Vincent Candilora, David Conrad, Tony Conway, Paul Corbin, Tim DuBois, Jim Foglesong, Joanne Gardner, Lon Helton, Scott Hendricks, Stanley Hitchcock, W. Michael Milom, Robert K. Oermann, Kerry O’Neil, Chip Peay, Joyce Rice, Pat Rogers, Thom Schuyler, Nancy Shapiro, Harold Shedd, Connie Westfall, Jack Weston, and Roy Wunsch.
“One of the things I had tried to point out over the course of time is following the money,” Galante said. “I really think part of our responsibility was to show people things like ‘What is a mechanical?’ Most people go ‘Mechanical? What is that?’ Still to this day, I’m always amazed at how often people say, ‘How does that work again?’”
“We have so many people that are coming in from other disciplines around the country, and it helps us stay abreast of the issues,” Galante continued. “I think bringing people in from YouTube and SoundExchange is all good news for us, as opposed to getting the news secondhand.”
Brown suggests that Leadership Music is crucial to the Nashville music business now more than ever. “I think Leadership Music keeps people in line with the fact that the business is so fractured,” he said. “I don’t know everybody at every label like I did back in the day, and I don’t think that’s because I’m not at a record label now. I read every magazine in the music industry, and I stay up on who’s going where. I think that Leadership Music now is probably more important than it was when we started it.”
Galante agreed. “Music still is under-appreciated,” he said. “We’re still going through the same conversation about being compensated and protecting the copyright. How many decades, and we’re still arguing about this stuff. We just include the term ‘metadata’ now, that we never used to talk about, which is an important issue.”
“I remember getting a call at the end of the year from someone who’d been in the business, who was well known, and said, ‘I’ve been in the business for 20 years. What are you going to teach me?’ to start, and at the end it was, ‘I’ve been in the business for 20 years, and I can’t believe what I learned,’” said Norman.
Pictured (L-R): Robert K. Oermann, Brenda Lee, Sally Williams, and Jeff Gregg.
Norman, Galante and Brown are unquestionably in the class of excellence personifying Leadership Music. When it comes to leadership, the three have valuable insights on developing such an important trait.
Norman touts respected United States Army General Norman Schwarzkopf’s notion of leadership, saying, “Schwarzkopf had that wonderful quote on leadership about it being this potent combination of strategy and character and if you must be ‘all in’ on one, make sure it’s character. We would go into these [programs] and be strategizing about business and how to get better. People came to appreciate that we’re in this together and what it meant to maintain high character and integrity as you walk through this process.”
“And it’s a lonely job,” Galante added. “I think that character is essential because if your team doesn’t trust you, you have the basis removed. [This includes] being able to listen, seek as much council as you possibly can before you make a decision, and let people feel like they have been heard. You may not agree with them, but that’s your responsibility. And there’s the accountability–you have to be able to stand up and say, ‘I made that decision. Yes, I’m responsible for that. I’ll take the hit.’”
Brown referred back to his star-making days at RCA, saying, “I think the employees have to know you have a passion, and that you have knowledge about what’s happening and what’s going to happen, and standing up for the history of the music that you’re working in. They have to think that you know what you’re doing. You’ve got to have taste. You can have good taste, and good taste could mean commercial music that sells, but then you’ve got to have taste that is a little eclectic, to where they think you’ve got a set of balls and you have blind faith.”
“It’s really your ability to provide insight, inspire, to be there, available for counsel,” Jim Ed Norman summarized. “ I think it might have been Colin Powell that said, ‘When a soldier stops bringing you their problems, is when you stop being a leader.’ You have to build an environment that encourages people to feel comfortable and safe, to tell you the truth, and you have to be prepared to listen to the truth and respond to it as productively as you can. I think the number one trait is character and integrity.”
Pictured: Tim DuBois
The three music industry giants also keep close to heart that even though the music business is a business, the music and artists must remain the prime focus.
“We can get consumed with the business,” said Norman. “It’s vital to remember that the business is built on the shoulders of artists, and they hold us up.”
“We are in the artist business,” Galante agreed. “I used to tell people all the time they are the ones in front of the microphone. Our job is to support them.”