David Renzer, Chairman & CEO, Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) has announced the promotion of Pat Higdon to President for Universal Music Publishing Group, Nashville. Most recently, Higdon served as Executive Vice President/General Manager for UMPG Nashville. In this new role, Higdon will preside over the company’s country music publishing activities, reporting to Renzer. The list of top writers that have trusted their song careers in Higdon’s hands includes Don Schlitz, Josh Turner, Dave Loggins, Troy Verges, Rivers Rutherford, Radney Foster, Shooter Jennings, Monty Powell, Matraca Berg, Anders Osborne, Gary Harrison, Troy Seals, Shawn Camp, Tim Mensy, and many more.
A Nashville native, Higdon broke into the music industry in the early ‘70s as a recording engineer at Nashville’s Woodland Sound before moving to Cedarwood Publishing. He then spent seven years with MCA Music, rising to MCA’s Vice President of Nashville operations. In the late `80s, he moved to Warner/Chappell Music, where he served as Senior Director of Creative Services. In 1989 Higdon founded Patrick Joseph Music as a joint venture with Warner/Chappell. He established a similar relationship in 1992 with Los Angeles-based Windswept Pacific Entertainment. The success of Patrick Joseph Music’s boutique catalog caught the attention of Universal Music Publishing Group and Higdon was tapped to run the Nashville operation in 1999. In his position with Universal, Higdon manages a catalog that spans the width of the musical landscape, from the 1940’s Folk/Blues of the Delmore Brothers, the 1950’s and 1960’s classics of Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and Buddy Holly, country classics from Webb Pierce, Brenda Lee, Mel Tillis, and the works of Bob McDill, Pat Alger, Dickey Lee, Kostas, Mel Tillis, Marijohn Wilkin, Stephanie Bentley, Matraca Berg, Gary Burr, Troy Verges, Craig Wiseman, Emmylou Harris, Ed Hill, Marcus Hummon, and many more.
“What we’ve achieved is a testament to this company’s artists, songwriters, catalogues, and employees,” said Higdon. “I’m pleased to build on the great results we’ve achieved artistically and commercially over many years. I firmly believe in the mantra of great songs and great songwriters and have always invested in careers for the long haul. We’re building a catalogue at UMPG that I believe will weather the test of time.”
Anastasia Brown to Judge “Peace Song Challenge”
/by LB CantrellThe Grand Prize winner will receive an exclusive Gibson Guitar, an official “Agent of Peace” fleece jacket, inclusion in a major publicity announcement and posting of their song on the Bring Peace Not Pain’s website and YouTube. The winner will also be featured in an international news story and may have the opportunity to perform his/her song at several upcoming events and be given the opportunity to promote his/her music as the official song of the campaign. Five runner-up entrants will receive an official “Agent of Peace” fleece jacket and mention on the website. Submissions for the contest are due by July 25 and must be submitted with a signed Official Entry form, copy of the Rules and Regulations, a CD of the song and written lyrics. All must be signed and dated by the original composer and be accompanied by a letter stating that they are original works. For more information, click here.
Pat Higdon Rises To UMPG Presidency
/by LB CantrellA Nashville native, Higdon broke into the music industry in the early ‘70s as a recording engineer at Nashville’s Woodland Sound before moving to Cedarwood Publishing. He then spent seven years with MCA Music, rising to MCA’s Vice President of Nashville operations. In the late `80s, he moved to Warner/Chappell Music, where he served as Senior Director of Creative Services. In 1989 Higdon founded Patrick Joseph Music as a joint venture with Warner/Chappell. He established a similar relationship in 1992 with Los Angeles-based Windswept Pacific Entertainment. The success of Patrick Joseph Music’s boutique catalog caught the attention of Universal Music Publishing Group and Higdon was tapped to run the Nashville operation in 1999. In his position with Universal, Higdon manages a catalog that spans the width of the musical landscape, from the 1940’s Folk/Blues of the Delmore Brothers, the 1950’s and 1960’s classics of Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and Buddy Holly, country classics from Webb Pierce, Brenda Lee, Mel Tillis, and the works of Bob McDill, Pat Alger, Dickey Lee, Kostas, Mel Tillis, Marijohn Wilkin, Stephanie Bentley, Matraca Berg, Gary Burr, Troy Verges, Craig Wiseman, Emmylou Harris, Ed Hill, Marcus Hummon, and many more.
“What we’ve achieved is a testament to this company’s artists, songwriters, catalogues, and employees,” said Higdon. “I’m pleased to build on the great results we’ve achieved artistically and commercially over many years. I firmly believe in the mantra of great songs and great songwriters and have always invested in careers for the long haul. We’re building a catalogue at UMPG that I believe will weather the test of time.”
Capitol Ups Hodges To Sr. VP Promotion
/by LB Cantrell“I am thrilled to announce that Steve will be taking over the top executive position in our promotion department,” Dungan said. “In addition to the fact that he has been key to our success over the last several years, he’s well liked and respected in radio-land, our artists and staff adore him, his business acumen is top notch, and he just flat out knows how to move the ball forward. I am personally honored to work beside him, and excited about the future.”
Catino Named Stroudavarious President
/by LB Cantrell“Bill Catino is an incredible music man who brings tremendous passion and drive to our team,” said Stroud. “I could not have a finer executive or a better friend heading this company for me. We’re lucky to have him.”
Luke Bryan Teams With Eventful For Album Release
/by LB Cantrell“I have the greatest fans in the world,” said Bryan. “So working with Eventful makes sense because it’s a great opportunity to give a little back to the fans and give them the chance to be an active part of my album release.”
ole Launches State-of-the-Art Database
/by LB Cantrell“You can stream audio directly from the site, even without being a registered user,” said ole Senior Creative Manager Elizabeth Spear. “We’re tagging criteria to all of the songs so that people can find what they’re looking for by lyrical theme, genre style, mood, tempo – pretty much anything.”
One of the musicnow’s “smart” functions is the ability to find a song in a similar style. “If you search for a song by Dream Warriors you’ll get that selection and will also find songs that “sound like” or are similar to that song.”
With offices in Toronto, Nashville and Los Angeles, ole is one of the world’s largest independent, full-service music publishers.
Taylor Swift’s Mother’s Day Two-Fer
/by LB CantrellMeanwhile, CMT is stepping up to offer fans a “Taylor Two-Fer.” The network will air the videos for “You Belong With Me” and “The Best Day” back-to-back in a never-before-implemented “Turbo Hot Shot Rotation.” The two videos will air consecutively every 75 minutes during CMT’s video programming blocks as well as within this week’s CMT Top 20 Countdown. CMT.com will prominently feature the clips back-to-back, while the CMT Radio live syndicated show will air the songs in the same way. CMT Mobile will also spotlight the clips, and a special CMT mobile sweepstakes kicks off this week in conjunction with the campaign. CMT will give away a trip for two to catch Swift perform live at Madison Square Garden in New York this fall. Beginning Tuesday, iTunes will feature the two video clips for sale on a custom ‘double feature’ landing page. CMT and iTunes are fine-tuning cross-promotional opportunities for the campaign this week that will have both partners pointing to each other—CMT driving video purchases to iTunes, and iTunes driving video views on CMT.
“The Best Day” clip will also begin airing Monday on GAC in a Power rotation. “You Belong With Me” will world premiere Monday on CMT, with GAC airing the clip beginning Wednesday. GAC will also exclusively air Taylor Swift On The Set: You Belong With Me, a 30-minute making-of-the-video special, later this month. To watch Taylor’s “The Best Day” video, click here.
Carla Williams
/by ProgrammerPlaylist“Every Word You’re Thinking”
Lofton Creek
—Robert K. Oermann, MusicRow
Born and raised in the Heart of Dixie, Carla Williams has long had a passion for singing and performing. The Mobile, Alabama native recently signed with Mike Borchetta’s Lofton Creek Records and the label is releasing her debut single “Every Word You’re Thinking.”
In 2007 Williams decided to pursue her dreams of singing and found songwriter and award-winning filmmaker, Milton Brown via Myspace. After meeting with Brown, the two realized that this dream could very well happen. Brown introduced Williams to legendary songwriter, producer and composer Steve Dorff, who co-produced Williams’ debut album I’m Home with Brown.
Williams’ journey is just beginning, but she is enjoying every second of the road to fulfilling her dream. “It was all about someone in the industry believing in me and taking that leap of faith and encouraging me to believe that my dreams were just as important as the big stars in Nashville,” says Williams.
http://www.carlawilliamsmusic.com/
James Otto
/by ProgrammerPlaylist“Since You Brought It Up”
Warner Bros.
“As long as I can possibly remember I have been obsessed with music,” Otto says. “Listening to it on the radio, getting into my mom’s record collection—my tastes have changed, but music has been there my whole life.” Otto was raised all over the country, from Washington State, to his grandparents’ farm in North Dakota, and in rural Alabama. Otto didn’t just listen to music, he made it. “I got a record player with a mic on it when I was three or four, and I’ve been singing ever since,” he recalls.
Otto’s No. 1 hit “Just Got Started Lovin’ You” put the gentle giant on the map and earned him a spot on the Country Radio Broadcaster’s New Faces show. The song was also nominated for CMT’s Breakthrough Video of the Year. Another recent triumph was winning his first ACM award—Song of the Year, with co-writers Jamey Johnson and Thomas Lee Miller for the song, “In Color.”
James Otto’s new single, “Since You Brought It Up,” from his upcoming CD, shipped to radio on April 24 and will go for adds May 18th.
http://www.twitter.com/jamesotto
http://www.jamesotto.net
Aldean Sets 4th Annual “Concert for the Cure”
/by LB Cantrell“I know a lot of fans heard my friend Melissa’s story in the album special that GAC did,” says Aldean. “That two-minute clip barely touched on how passionate I feel about this. I promise to make it the most rocking late night gig in downtown Nashville that night, and I hope people will come out to support this cause and help me remember Melissa.”
Tickets range from $25 to $100 and are available to fan club members this week and to the public beginning May 2 through www.jasonaldean.com and TicketMaster. A limited number of VIP Packages including tickets in the exclusive VIP lounge and meet & greet passes will also be available. More information can be found here.