PUB CRAWLING: TUNESMITHS ON A TEAR EDITION
UMPG topper Jody Gerson and company are stoked at having inked writer/producer Jeff Bhasker, who played a big role in the Mark Ronson/Bruno Mars juggernaut “Uptown Funk” (RCA) as well as Mars’ “Locked out of Heaven,” fun.’s “We Are Young,” P!nk’s “Just Give Me a Reason” (RCA) and countless other smashes. Bhasker notes that Gerson’s “guidance and knowledge is second to none.” Is he in contention to be represented on one of Q4's biggest releases?
Uni also boasts a promising writer named Justin Bieber, who co-penned monster of the moment “What Do You Mean?” (Def Jam). The Biebs, signed by Evan Lamberg and Ethiopia Habtemariam, been on the roster more or less from the jump, as has R. City, whose “Locked Away” featuring Adam Levine (Kemosabe/RCA) is currently Top 5 at Pop radio. Meanwhile, UMPG tunesmiths, including DaHeala, Danny Boy and Stephan Moccio, contributed to no fewer than seven songs on The Weeknd's smash album, Beauty Behind the Madness.
Ace writer Dave Bassett is basking in the glow of two smashes he co-penned: Rachel Platten’s “Fight Song” (Columbia) and Elle King’s “Ex’s & Oh’s” (RCA). The Sony/ATV tunesmith’s got more than a dozen #1s and a couple of ASCAP Pop Awards under his belt and has written with everybody from Walk Off the Earth and Idina Menzel to hard rockers Shinedown and Alt-rock it kids The Struts. He’s got a lot more on the way. And I remember when he was fronting Three Day Wheely on L.A. stages in the ’90s (they were great, by the way).
Sony/ATV ruler Marty Bandier, meanwhile, made headlines with an open letter to Nashville-based writers—ahead of this week’s National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) Town Hall—about proposed changes to the consent decree that would allow PROs to engage in “100% licensing,” whereby a PRO with any stake in a composition could license it for streaming without consulting the other participants. Such an arrangement could create real headaches for co-writers, since, as the letter explains, “a streaming service could bypass you and your PRO and go to your collaborator’s PRO to obtain a license for the entire song without your consent. You would then be subject to that PRO’s royalty rate, even if it is lower than your PRO’s rate, and you may have to depend on the other PRO, with which you have no relationship, to collect your share of royalties and account to you.” What do you say?
Kent Earls and Team UMPG Nashville have re-upped country crossover phenom Sam Hunt (along with publishing partner Chris Hunter). Hunt’s CMA nominations have driven further chatter about the country crossover star’s possible inclusion in major Grammy categories outside of Best New Artist.
A big winner at the R&B/Hip-Hop Awards: DJ Mustard, who was named Songwriter and Producer of the Year. The SONGS writer is the first ever to win both categories in a single year. Among his giant hits: Jeremih f/YG's "Don't Tell 'Em" and Big Sean f/E40's "I Don't Fuck With You" (both Def Jam), Kid Ink f/Chris Brown's "Show Me"and Tinashe f/ScHoolboy Q's "2 On" (both RCA).
Mothership Music co-founder Lionel Conway is kvelling about two new Canadian signings. One is emo-rocker SayWeCanFly, aka Braden Barrie (who's signed to Epitaph, the label baby of the pubco's other co-founder, Brett Gurewitz). The other is troubadour Andy Shauf, whose music is drawing comparisons to two of my faves, Elliott Smith and Nick Drake. Shauf, brought to the Mothership by development partner Chris Douridas, will put out his buzzed-about new album on ANTI-. Look for these to get a lot of attention, eh?
Bill Gaden has been upped to CEO of Imagem U.S., per global CEO/co-founder Andre de Raaff. Gaden, formerly COO, has been working on unifying the U.S. enterprise, has served at Arista, BMG, BBC, Simon & Schuster and the Estate of Leonard Bernstein; he and his team promise optimal service and creative advocacy "for everything from classical and theatrical to pop music." Imagem's clients in the latter category include Dlionelaft Punk, Vampire Weekend and Phil Collins. The company's creative services department has promoted Steve King to VP and Isabel Arisso to Manager.
SESAC has finalized its acquisition of Harry Fox Agency. Says the former's Chairman/CEO, John Josephson, "The Harry Fox Agency (HFA) is the leading U.S. mechanical rights organization and this acquisition establishes SESAC as the only Music Rights Organization in the United States. SESAC will have the ability to offer singular licenses for the works of its affiliated writers and publishers that aggregate both performance and mechanical rights for those users interested in such an option. We look forward to driving greater efficiency in licensing for music users, as well as enhanced value for music creators and publishers.”
BMI, meanwhile, is trumpeting its "record-breaking" revenues for the fiscal year ending 6/30. The total is over $1 billion, with its $877 million in payouts to writers and pubcos the highest yet (digital revenue, meanwhile, exceeded $100m).
