Weekly Chart Report (7/26/19)
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Downtown Music Publishing Names Cliff Audretch III To VP Role [Exclusive]
Cliff Audretch III
Downtown Music Publishing has appointed Cliff Audretch III as Vice President Creative. He will join Downtown’s Nashville-based Creative team, alongside Natalie Osborne and Matt Turner, reporting directly to Sr. VP, Creative Steve Markland.
Audretch will be responsible for scouting, developing, and signing new artists, songwriters, and producers, as well as creating opportunities for Downtown clients and copyrights in the global marketplace.
“Cliff is an excellent addition to our seasoned and accomplished team, here at Downtown,” said Markland. “We are thrilled to have someone with his extensive experience and creative knowledge on board, working with our global team.”
Prior to joining Downtown, Audretch served as a talent manager representing songwriters and producers at Patriot Management, where he established the company’s Nashville division. He also ran his own publishing company, Greatshakin’ Music, launched in conjunction with Warner Chappell Music in 2013.
Audretch has held senior A&R and creative positions at Show Dog-Universal Music, Universal South Records, and Windswept Publishing, getting his start in the mid-‘90s at E-Squared Records—where he worked alongside partners Steve Earle and Jack Emerson. In his various roles, Audretch has worked with and developed talent responsible for multiple country hits such as “Boots On” by Randy Houser, “Smoke” by A Thousand Horses, the Eli Young Band’s “Even If It Breaks Your Heart,” “What Hurts the Most” by Rascal Flatts, and Tim McGraw’s “The Cowboy in Me.”
Average Joes Appoints Jamie Reeder Head Of New Arcade Management Division
Simone Chretien, Jamie Reeder
Average Joes Entertainment is launching Arcade Management, a full-service, entertainment management firm based in Nashville.
Jamie Reeder, who previously handled day-to-day management for Sister Hazel, has been promoted to head up the new company, overseeing all management facets for the client roster. Reeder has held various positions over the past decade at Average Joes Entertainment including day-to-day management responsibilities for Colt Ford, Josh Gracin, and others, as well as marketing efforts for the Average Joes’ label roster. Reeder graduated from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville with a B.A. in Finance.
Simone Chretien also joins Arcade Management as Management/Marketing Assistant. Chretian graduated with a BA in Music Business from Middle Tennessee State University. Chretian previously interned at Borman Entertainment and Average Joes Entertainment.
Sister Hazel and Irish celtic band Gaelic Storm are the first artists signed to the new company, which also provides in-house digital marketing.
Breaking: Sally Williams To Join Live Nation
Live Nation Entertainment has hired Sally Williams as President of Nashville Music and Business Strategy. Beginning September 2019 and reporting to President of US Concerts, Bob Roux, Williams will play an integral part of Live Nation’s continued growth in Music City.
As President of Nashville Music and Business Strategy, Williams will drive Live Nation’s overall business and entertainment strategy in the market, including venue and client development. She will lead the company’s overall efforts in the programming and marketing of Live Nation’s concert activity in the greater Nashville market, and collaborate with Nashville-based artists to develop and execute their vision on a world-wide basis. Williams will also oversee operations of Live Nation’s existing portfolio of Nashville venues, including Ascend Amphitheater, The Quarry and The Brooklyn Bowl, while also leading efforts in the development of new venues.
“Sally is a Nashville music industry icon, and the perfect executive to oversee Live Nation’s growing footprint in Nashville,” said Roux. “She’s spent decades contributing to the success of Nashville artists, venues, and events, and certainly the community itself, and we’re extremely fortunate to have someone with her industry knowledge and dedication to live music join our company.”
“For decades, Nashville has not only been my home, but also my passion,” said Williams. “It’s been a privilege to be in the middle of such incredible growth and I’m excited about what’s on the horizon. Live Nation has built a strong business here and has a terrific team in place. It will be an honor to collaborate with them to create world class experiences for fans and artists here in Nashville and beyond.”
Williams will join Live Nation following nearly 20 years at Ryman Hospitality Properties and Opry Entertainment Group. Since February 2017 she has served as the Senior Vice President of Programming and Artist Relations, as well as General Manager of the Grand Ole Opry, overseeing booking, programming, artist relations, artist collaborations and show production across the group’s venues, including: Grand Ole Opry, Grand Ole Opry House, Ryman Auditorium and Ole Red. Prior to that, Williams served as General Manager of Ryman Auditorium. During her tenure, the Ryman was consistently recognized with a multitude of awards, and Williams herself garnered many accolades of her own, including Pollstar’s Facility Executive of the Year, Academy of Country Music’s Don Romeo Talent Buyer of the Year and Promoter of the year, the TJ Martell Frances Preston Outstanding Music Industry Achievement Award, and more.
Williams has served as a steward of many organizations throughout Nashville’s music community, including as Chairman of the Country Music Association, President of Leadership Music and President of the Opry Trust Fund. Currently she is serving as Co-chair of the Music City Music Council and as Marketing Chair for the Country Music Association board of directors. She also is a member of the Academy of Country Music, the Americana Music Association, the International Association of Venue Managers, and the International Entertainment Buyers Association.
Williams’s last day with Opry Entertainment will be Aug. 9. Beginning Sept. 9, she will be in Live Nation’s Nashville office and can be reached at 615-346-9000.
Weekly Chart Report (7/19/19)
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Ken Ehrlich To Step Down As Grammys Executive Producer
Ken Ehrlich
The Recording Academy has announced the executive producers for its 2020 and 2021 broadcasts. Longtime producer/executive producer Ken Ehrlich will step down as executive producer for the Grammy Awards following the 2020 broadcast, which will mark his 40th anniversary, having produced his first Grammy Awards in 1980. For the 2021 broadcast, Ben Winston will succeed Ehrlich as the sole executive producer for the 63rd Grammy Awards.
“Ken’s imprint on the GRAMMY Awards and the music industry are well-known and represent the kind of work and vision that legends are made of,” said Neil Portnow, President/CEO of the Recording Academy. “Having worked closely with Ken for almost half of his tenure with the show, I have seen first-hand the vision, extraordinary musical knowledge, and passion he brings to every minute of the process, and the spectacular results and memorable GRAMMY Moments that have been delivered. It’s an honor to celebrate his 40th anniversary with the GRAMMYs. I also recognize the wonderful opportunity ahead by bringing the immensely talented, innovative, and well-respected Ben Winston into the family, and we look forward to his enthusiastic and forward-thinking approach to presenting music on television.”
“To have been a part of the growth of the GRAMMY Awards into the preeminent music awards show of our time has been one of the highlights of my professional life, and I’m grateful to the Recording Academy and to our partners at CBS for their support and for trusting my vision over the past four decades,” said Ehrlich. “I have also been the happy recipient of having an incredible group of people who have worked on the show over the years, and of course the most amazing cadre of musical artists who bring their own creativity and brilliance to the GRAMMY stage year after year. I want to wish my successor Ben the best as he assumes the executive producer role. I am confident that his abilities in all aspects of production will both ensure the legacy of the GRAMMY Awards and also instill a new creative direction for the show.”
“It’s an absolute honor to be executive producer of the GRAMMYs for 2021,” said Winston. “I feel excitement and nerves in equal measure on taking on this role, but mostly I feel immense gratitude to the Recording Academy for this wonderful opportunity. I also want to salute Ken, who has done an absolutely remarkable job over the last 40 years.”
Ehrlich is the founder of AEG Ehrlich Ventures. Throughout his time spearheading the Grammys, he has become known for creating interesting and unexpected performance pairings—Eminem and Elton John, Prince and Beyoncé, and Dave Grohl, Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, and Joe Walsh—to help make the Grammys one of the most-watched entertainment specials in television history. In his almost 50 years as a producer, Ehrlich has created and worked on numerous award shows and live events, including the Emmy Awards, the MTV Movie Awards, and the Latin Grammy Awards. He has also produced dozens of specials for broadcast and cable networks for artists including Beyoncé, Bob Dylan, John Legend, the Rolling Stones, and Justin Timberlake. Ehrlich directed the Las Vegas residencies of both Mariah Carey and Celine Dion, and was honored by the Producers Guild of America with the Visionary Award in 2007.
Winston is a multifaceted producer, director, and writer with award-winning credits that span television, movies, music videos, and commercials. A six-time Emmy Award winner and a 22-time nominee, he has produced a multitude of shows including The Late Late Show with James Corden, co-created Carpool Karaoke, and Drop The Mic and has produced many music specials for artists such as Bruno Mars, Sam Smith, Harry Styles, Justin Bieber to name a few.
In the live event space, Winston was recently the executive producer for the Global Citizen Nelson Mandela 100 Concert in South Africa, with Beyoncé and Jay Z as headliners. He was a producer of the Brits awards three times and the Tony’s twice. In documentaries, he has produced a multitude of work including In The Hands Of The Gods, I Am Bolt and is a producer on the upcoming Motown movie for Showtime. Winston, who won the first-ever Emmys for Apple and Snapchat shows last year, also won a Brit award for Best Director of a music video, three years in a row. Winston is a partner at production company Fulwell 73.
The 62nd Annual Grammy Awards will take place Sunday, Jan. 26, 2020, and broadcast on the CBS Television Network.
Rebekah Gordon Joins Black River Entertainment
Rebekah Gordon
Black River Entertainment has hired Rebekah Gordon as Vice President of Publishing. Gordon will oversee the operations of the publishing department and its creative endeavors. She brings more than 15 years of experience to Black River Publishing.
“Today is a great day for Black River Publishing. To have such an outstanding person join our team is an honor,” shares Black River Entertainment President & CEO Gordon Kerr. “We look forward to all of the incredible ways that Rebekah will contribute to Black River and to the songwriting community through our writers.”
In her role as Vice President of Publishing, Gordon will continue to cultivate the careers of Black River Publishing’s roster including hit songwriters-producers Bobby Huff and Josh Kerr, songwriter-artists Eddie Garcia, Willie Jones, Nikita Karmen, Anna Vaus, and Nick Wayne, songwriters Ben Caver and Jacob Davis, songwriters-Black River recording artists Abby Anderson, Carolina Story, Hannah Kerr and Josh Wilson, and promote the catalogues of hit-songwriter-Black River Recording artist Kelsea Ballerini, hit songwriters-producers Doug Johnson, Forest Glen Whitehead, and Grammy-winning songwriter Josh Osborne.
“I am beyond thrilled to begin this next chapter with Black River Entertainment and continue to build upon the stellar talent of the writers, artists and staff,” shares Rebekah. “Black River has created a truly unique and collaborative atmosphere and the results speak for themselves. This is going to be fun!”
Prior to Black River, she had stops at Rezonant and Warner Music Nashville, among others. Gordon played a vital role in placing songs for multiple artists’ projects, including Blake Shelton’s hit songs “My Eyes” and “Guy With A Girl” and Michael Ray’s debut No. 1 hit “Kiss You In The Morning,” as well as chart topper “Think A Little Less.”
Effective immediately, Gordon reports to Black River Entertainment President & CEO Gordon Kerr and can be reached at [email protected].
Sam Hunt, Reba McEntire, Dierks Bentley To Perform For NSAI’s Nashville Songwriter Awards
The Nashville Songwriters Association (NSAI) has announced several performers set to take part in the 2nd Annual Nashville Songwriter Awards, presented by NSAI and City National Bank.
Reba McEntire, Sam Hunt, Dierks Bentley, Chris Janson, Lee Brice, David Lee Murphy, Michael Ray and hit songwriter Dean Dillon will be part of the lineup.
Additionally, George Strait has been selected to receive the 2019 President’s Keystone Award, in recognition of his contributions toward the betterment of all songwriters.
“George Strait is the perfect recipient of the NSAI President’s Keystone Award. The Keystone is the ‘central stone at the summit of an arch, locking the whole together’,” says NSAI President Steve Bogard. “His delivery of a great melody and that perfect phrasing that communicates the emotion in a lyric is the ultimate last step in bringing so many incredible records to his fans. We’re honored he’ll be with us.”
Previously announced honorees of the evening include Loretta Lynn, who will receive the Kris Kristofferson Lifetime Achievement Award, U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn) who will be honored with the White Hat Award, and the peer-voted 2019 “Song of the Year,” “Songwriter of the Year,” “Songwriter-Artist of the Year,” and the “10 Songs I Wish I’d Written” awards, all of which will be revealed the night of the awards.
The second annual Nashville Songwriter Awards will take place Sept. 17 at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. Tickets will go on sale Friday, July 19 at 10 a.m. CT.
Weekly Chart Report (7/12/19)
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Ruston Kelly Signs With Concord Music Publishing
Ruston Kelly has signed an exclusive worldwide publishing deal with Concord Music Publishing. Kelly is set to release his next album on Rounder Records in 2020.
Born in South Carolina, Kelly moved to Nashville at 17 and began penning songs for artists like Tim McGraw and Josh Abbott Band. He continued working on his own material, breaking through with the release of his debut EP Halloween in 2017 and his full length debut album, Dying Star in September of 2018.
“Ruston is that rare, wonderful breed of writer – with one foot firmly planted in tradition, while constantly pushing the limits of contemporary creativity. He has an undeniable punk ethic, like many of the legendary greats before him,” said Tom DeSavia, SVP of A&R/Artist Relations for Concord Music Publishing.
“We’re so honored to have Ruston join the Concord family of songwriters. We are beyond excited to be a part of his creative team, and we can’t wait for the world to hear what he has in store,” said Brad Kennard, VP of A&R at Concord Music Publishing.
“Refreshing the air in a writer’s sphere is bittersweet but also necessary at times,” said Ruston Kelly. “Signing with Concord is just that for me, and I’m very excited to have such an enthusiastic and driven team here.”
In addition to his solo work, Ruston Kelly has written songs for artists like Rob Baird, Hayes Carll, and Lucie Silvas. He recently played the Bonnaroo Music Festival and is set to perform at Lollapalooza in Chicago next month. Kelly will kick off his headlining Brightly Burst Tour in September.