BMI Highlights Hip-Hop & R&B in New Showcase

BMI hosted a new showcase on July 6 at Exit/In, highlighting Nashville’s burgeoning hip-hop and R&B scene with performances by BMI songwriters CAMM, Zach Taylor and recording artist R. Lum. R. Nearly 300 people attended the concert, the first in the “A Night For New Nashville” series.

 

ACM Welcomes Cam For A Visit

The Academy of Country Music welcomed Arista Nashville/RCA Records artist Cam to the office while she was in Los Angeles. While at the Academy, Cam performed her No. 1 hit “Burning House,” “Mayday,” and other songs from her debut album, Untamed.

 

Grand Ole Opry Brings “Country Music Night” To Chicago

Chase Bryant brought his hits and his new single “Room To Breathe” along with the Grand Ole Opry’s signature microphone stand and a replica of the Opry’s six-foot circle of wood to Country Music Night at U.S. Cellular Field on Friday night (July 15). Bryant performed acoustic before the game, threw the game’s ceremonial first pitch, hit the stands during the game to give away Opry and Nashville prizes to lucky fans, and introduced Country Music Night’s post-game fireworks. Earlier in the day, Bryant performed for fans at US99.5 studios in downtown Chicago.

Jason Aldean will collaborate with Kelsea Ballerini on his upcoming project, which is slated for release on Sept. 9.

His seventh studio album for Broken Bow Records, titled They Don’t Know, was produced by Aldean’s longtime producer Michael Knox and includes the same band he has worked with for a decade, both on and off stage.

The project also includes “First Time Again,” featuring Ballerini. The lead single is “Lights Come On.”

“I really wanted to start this new album with one of those big up-tempos,” said Aldean. “So, for it to click right away with fans and radio is a really cool way to start. With all the records we’ve done, we’ve been able to explore new sounds and really just do things our own way, and that’s sort of what the title track is all about.”

They Don’t Know Track List:

1. “Lights Come On”
2. “A Little More Summertime”
3. “This Plane Don’t Go There”
4. “Comin’ in Hot”
5. “First Time Again” (with Kelsea Ballerini)
6. “Bad”
7. “They Don’t Know”
8. “One We Won’t Forget”
9. “Whiskey’d Up”
10. “In Case You Don’t Remember”
11. “All Out of Beer”
12. “Any Ol’ Barstool”
13. “The Way a Night Should Feel”
14. “Reason to Love L.A.”
15. “When the Lights Go Out”

Big Loud Records artist Chris Lane has released the track list for his debut album, Girl Problems, to be released on Aug. 5. The set features his current single,“Fix,” and features the writing of several ace songwriters.

Songs by Cary Barlowe, Barry Dean, Sarah Buxton, Rodney Clawson, Matt Dragstrem, Kevin Fisher, Jesse Frasure, Luke Laird, Shane McAnally, Abe Stoklasa, Josh Thompson, and more are featured on the project. Lane also has a writing credit on the track “All About You,” alongside Jordan Schmidt and Andy Albert. The title track was written by Chris DeStefano, Ashley Gorley and Josh Kear.

The Joey Moi-produced project is available for pre-order today. Those who pre-order will receive five tracks, including “Fix,” “For Her,” “Let Me Love You,” “Her Own Kind Of Beautiful,” and “Saturday Night.”

Girl Problems Track List:

1. “Fix” (Sarah Buxton, Jesse Frasure, Abe Stoklasa)
2. “For Her” (Matt Dragstrem, Kelly Archer, Sarah Buxton)
3. “Let Me Love You” (Kameron Houff, Shaffer Smith, Scott Storch)
4. “Who’s It Gonna Be” (Nick Bailey, Kevin Fisher, James “JHart” Abrahart, Ryan Ogren)
5. “Back To Me” (Cary Barlowe, Josh Thompson, Rob Persaud)
6. “Maybe” (Jacob Hawkes, David Pramik, Charlie Snyder, Eben Wares)
7. “Her Own Kind Of Beautiful” (Rodney Clawson, Barry Dean, Matt Dragstrem)
8. “All The Time” (James “JHart” Abrahart, Jordan Evans, Chelcee Grimes, Tayla Parkx, Tinashe Sibanda)
9. “Circles” featuring Mackenzie Porter (Steph Jones, Joey Moi, Danny Parker, Sno, Emily Warren)
10. “Saturday Night” (Ashley Gorley, Luke Laird, Shane McAnally)
11. “All About You” (Andy Albert, Chris Lane, Jordan Schmidt)
12. “Girl Problems” (Chris DeStefano, Ashley Gorley, Josh Kear)

Three music industry organizations, including the Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP), the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM), and the Canadian Music Publishers Association (CMPA) have released a joint statement regarding the recent ruling of the Department of Justice regarding 100 percent licensing.

The decision on 100 percent licensing means that a song co-written by an ASCAP songwriter and a BMI songwriter could be licensed with approval from just one PRO. It also means that if a songwriter owns only a portion of the song, he or she can license it, as long as that songwriter ensures the other credited writers are getting paid. Under the current system, known as fractionalized licensing, each copyright owner in the song takes care of licensing their portion.

Meanwhile the ruling declined requests from major publishing companies to have a right to negotiate licensing rates with digital music providers like Pandora and Spotify. The original consent decree, which requires ASCAP and BMI to license songs at a fixed rate, was enacted in 1941. The music industry has lobbied for the last two or three years to modernize the law to reflect how music is now consumed. Their requests were all denied in the ruling.

Technically, both PROs must consent to the changes. The next step is approval from federal rate court judges.

The full statement from AIMP, A2IM, and CMPA is available below:

We, the undersigned, represent the independent music publishing and record label community in North America, and want to lend our unified voice to the recent press and discussion regarding the outrageous position the Department of Justice (DoJ) has taken with regard to the ASCAP and BMI consent decrees.

The heart of the music business is the song. No recording artist would exist without a song, and songs would not exist without songwriters. The songwriters are the smallest of small businesses, and many of them control the ownership to their songs. A significant number of songwriters have entered into mutually beneficial agreements with music publishers who develop and promote their songs. The independent music publishing and record company sector is over one-third of the music industry in North America and employs thousands. While each company may vary in size and have relationships with major labels and/or music publishers, they all share the same independent DNA. The vibrant, diverse and dynamic music business we know today was built by songwriters, independent music publishers, and independent record labels… but that’s all about to change.

After spending a great deal of U.S. taxpayer money the last few years reviewing the 75-year-old consent decrees, holding public testimony on the various ways in which the anachronistic consent decrees should be updated to address the challenges of a digital economy, and apparently ignoring hundreds of public comments officially submitted to them, the DoJ determined both that the consent decrees should not be amended and that ASCAP and BMI should be forced to issue 100% licenses.

This position by the DoJ on 100% licensing is 100% wrong. The DoJ’s position will obstruct every level of the music business as songwriters’ creative processes will be impacted by which PRO their co-writers are signed with. In a world where songwriters, artists, music publishers and record companies are already being paid below market rates by tech companies that built their businesses by using our songs, the DoJ has opened the door for even lower payments. The DoJ’s decision reaches far beyond our shores and threatens our relationships with foreign writers, publishers and record companies. The DoJ has now unwittingly entered the creative process in the writing room and the recording studio. They do not belong there.

Independent songwriters, music publishers and recording artists deserve more than what we have received here. The DoJ and its largest supporter in its recent ruling, Public Knowledge, has propped up the media conglomerates at the expense of the entire music industry. We deserve fair market rates that are not regulated by the U.S. government and the ability to decide when and where our property is used. The DoJ cannot be permitted to decide that for us.

AIMP (Association of Independent Music Publishers), A2IM (American Association of Independent Music) and CMPA (Canadian Music Publishers Association) stand shoulder to shoulder in opposing this unfortunate DoJ decision on 100% licensing. The vast majority of music publishers, songwriters, labels, and recording artists are small- and medium-sized enterprises, and it is essential for them to be able to control the use of their copyrights in order to sustain their businesses and careers.

If we value music, we need to value those who create it.

Michael Eames, President, AIMP

Richard James Burgess, Ph.D., CEO, A2IM

Jodie Ferneyhough, President, CMPA