Spotify will acquire music intelligence company, The Echo Nest. 
The Echo Nest was created as part of research work that automatically understands audio and textual content of music and is used to fuel music data solutions including playlists, fingerprinting, and audio analysis.
Music services including Clear Channel’s iHeartradio and MOG, as well as editorial, video, social media networks (bbc.com, MTV, VEVO, Yahoo!), and large brands (Coca Cola, Microsoft) use The Echo Nest platform and solutions to build smarter music experiences.
“We’ve been fans of The Echo Nest for a really long time and are honoured to have their talented team join Spotify,” said Daniel Ek, Founder and CEO, Spotify. “At Spotify, we want to get people to listen to more music. We are hyper focused on creating the best user experience and it starts with building the best music intelligence platform on the planet. With The Echo Nest joining Spotify, we will make a big leap forward in our quest to play you the best music possible.”
The Echo Nest will continue to operate out of its headquarters in Somerville, Mass., and will also continue to operate in San Francisco. The Echo Nest API will remain free and open to support its developer ecosystem. The developer community will remain a priority for the combined companies.
 

“It’s like high school with money. We all know each other. We know the spouses. We know the dogs. Our kids go to school together.” That’s how Sony Music Nashville CEO Gary Overton describes Nashville’s tight-knit music community in the Time.com article extolling the reasons new residents are flocking to Music City.
Touting Music City as “The South’s Red-Hot Town,” the article offers several stats cementing Nashville’s enviable status. Nashville had the strongest employment growth of any large city since the Great Recession; it is the second-fastest-growing U.S. city in 2013. The cost of living is cheaper than the U.S. average by 13 percent, and office vacancies fell from 12.3 percent to 10.4 percent last year, marking one of the 10 biggest declines in U.S. markets in 2013.
According to the article, the city’s economic success stands on what Tommy Frist, a son of Hospital Corporation of America’s (HCA’s) founding Frist family, calls “the four buckets” of employment stability in health care, entertainment, higher education and government. In addition, there is the livability factor. “Nashville is a soulful city in a way that Charlotte or Atlanta just don’t seem to be,” says Frist. “The vibe is cool, but it’s warm and comforting too.”
Many prominent Nashville residents contributed to the article, including Taylor Swift, Belmont University’s Don Cusic, and Vanderbilt chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos.
The article appears in the March 17, 2014 issue of TIME.

Buddy Miller is slated to perform two shows at Nashville’s The Basement. The shows, titled Buddy Miller and Friends, promise to feature several of his musician and songwriter friends.
The shows are slated for Thursday, March 6, beginning at 8:30 p.m., and for March 13 at 8:30 p.m. No advance tickets will be sold for either show, and doors will open at 8 p.m. Tickets are $10.
The Basement is located at 1604 8th Ave. S. in Nashville.
For more information, visit thebasementnashville.com.

SESAC named Christian songwriter/producer Jason Ingram as SESAC’s Christian Songwriter of the Year during the SESAC Christian Music Awards, held at the Hillwood Country Club in Nashville Tuesday evening (March 4). Sony/ATV Timber Publishing was named SESAC’s Christian Music Publisher of the Year. The awards recognize activity for songwriters and publishers in 2013.
A highlight of the evening occurred when SESAC presented the band Petra with its Legacy Award, marking the first time the award has been given in the Christian music genre. Previous recipients of this prestigious award have included Neil Diamond, Paul Shaffer and Jerry Cantrell of Alice In Chains.
Additional SESAC award winners during the evening included Cary Barlowe, Jamie Grace, Juan Otero, Ian Eskelin, Natalie Grant and Tiffany Arbuckle Lee (Plumb), among others.
For a full list of honorees, visit sesac.com.

Pictured (L-R): SESAC’s Trevor Gale & John Mullins, Jason Ingram & SESAC’s Tim Fink. Photo: Ed Rode.

Pictured (L-R): Petra’s John Lawry, SESAC’s John Mullins, Petra’s Greg Bailey & John Schlitt, SESAC’s Tim Fink and Petra’s Bob Hartman & Cristian Borneo. Photo: Ed Rode.

Pictured (L-R): SESAC’s Trevor Gale, Sony’s Holly Zbaka, SESAC’s John Mullins, Terry Hemmings & Devon DeVries and SESAC’s Tim Fink. Photo: Ed Rode.

SESAC’s Pat Collins with Seth Mosley and SESAC’s John Mullins. Photo: Ed Rode.