Primary Wave will be marketing the music and likeness of Robbie Robertson after entering marketing and administration agreement with the guitarist formerly of The Band.

As part of the agreement, Primary Wave Music Publishing will now represent the majority of Robertson's catalog, including some of his hits for The Band such as "Up On Cripple Creek," "Rag Mama Rag" and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down."

 "I so look forward to mixing it up with Primary Wave. They bring a progressive outlook to today's musical landscape," Robertson said. "I find something extremely refreshing and ambitious about their working process. We have a lot of ideas in common, and I think this is going to be a terrific relationship.”

The deal is announced a day ahead of Capitol/UMe’s release of a 50th anniversary edition of The Band. In September UMe released Robertson’s solo album Cinematic. Once Were Brothers, a documentary on The Band based on Robertson’s autobiography, premiered in September as well.

"Robbie is an all-time legend of songwriting, and a music pioneer,” said Marty Silverstone, Senior Vice President of Creative & Head of Sync for Primary Wave Music Publishing. "It's a great honor for us to welcome Robbie Robertson to the Primary Wave family."

SESAC celebrated its songwriters and music publishers behind the year's most-performed country and Americana songs at the company's annual Nashville Music Awards, Sunday 11/10 at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. 

Justin Ebach was named SESAC's Songwriter of the Year for the second time, with his hits from the past year including "Good Girl" recorded by Dustin Lynch and "Here Tonight" recorded by Brett Young.

Luke Combs' "Beautiful Crazy"—the longest running #1 Country Airplay song of 2019—was named SESAC Song of the Year. The song was co-written by Wyatt Durrette III and published by Rosest Music.

Warner Chappell Music took home Publisher of the Year.

Dustin Lynch was on hand to present Ebach with his award for Songwriter of the Year, and Song of the Year and Publisher of the Year awards were presented by SESAC executives Shannan Hatch and Sam Kling. Eric Church surprised his co-writer, Ray Wylie Hubbard, as he presented him with the award for his song “Desperate Man.” 

Blanco Brown kicked off the ceremony with a performance of "The Git Up," followed by Jimmie Allen providing a piano rendition of "Best Shot" alongside co-writer Josh London. Ray Wylie Hubbard took the stage to perform Erich Church's "Desperate Man," which he co-wrote with Church. 

Pictured above celebrating Songwriter of the Year are (L-R) SESAC VP of Creative Services Shannan Hatch, Dustin Lynch, Justin Ebach, SESAC Sr. Director Creative Services E.T. Brown and SESAC Sr. Director Creative Services Lydia Schultz.

Atlas Music Publishing is celebrating the addition of Ronan Taylor as their new controller. Prior to joining Atlas, Taylor held the controller position at SONGS Music Publishing, where he served as a key member of the management team that oversaw a period of growth while the company built a roster of 300+ songwriters, including Lorde, The Weeknd, Diplo, DJ Mustard, and more.

During his time at SONGS, the South African native, who has two business degrees and is a certified chartered accountant, designed and implemented accounting, operational controls, and systems that helped the company advance from a boutique music publisher to a leading independent music publisher.

“I am once again fortunate to be a part of a talented team full of passion and enthusiasm for music, it feels very much like SONGS did in the early years,” says Taylor, who brings over 15 years of international and domestic experience in various industries to Atlas.