Music News 5/27/10

Shane Barrett

>>Shane Barrett has exited ole Music Publishing to pursue his next opportunity after five years as the company’s Creative Director. Other recent changes at ole include the addition of Arthur Buenahora as Senior Creative Director. In addition, publishing veteran Mike Sebastian joined ole as a consultant following ole’s recent purchase of Blacktop Music Publishing, Sebastian’s former employer. Barrett can be reached at 615-474-3665 or at shanebarrettmusic@gmail.com.

>>Country star and humanitarian Big Kenny announced recently (5/25) that he and his Glotown entertainment company have partnered with Scott Siman of RPM Management for personal management and strategic oversight of his entertainment and humanitarian endeavors. Big Kenny embarked on a solo career last fall and in April launched Big Kenny’s Love Everybody Traveling Musical Medicine Show to share the healing power of music and to promote his philosophy of music without prejudice.

Big Kenny has written hits for himself (“Long After I’m Gone”), Jason Aldean (“Amarillo Sky”), Gretchen Wilson (“Here for the Party”) and Tim McGraw (“Last Dollar”), as well as being the “Big” of Big & Rich. He is known for his charitable endeavors across America and internationally. The singer recently performed a concert in support of efforts to stop mountaintop mining and completed two trips to Haiti where he helped search for survivors, aided rebuilding efforts and performed 13 shows for US troops and international aid workers.

>>BMI has launched a mobile version of its award-winning website www.bmi.com for iPhone, Android, Palm, Symbian and the upcoming Blackberry 6.0 phones. Mobile users will see the new mobile site when they log onto www.bmi.com. BMI also announced that it will launch a mobile web version of its highly trafficked Online Services area by the end of June, giving its songwriters, composers and music publishers secure account access for their royalty statements and catalog of musical works via their smart phones.

>>Nashville based company MusikPitch has found a niche in the songwriting business by providing a platform where songwriters and composers compete to win jingle contests. MusikPitch allows any company looking for jingle songs or branding music to run a contest. Companies simply describe the type of jingle they need, decide on the prize amount, then sit back and listen as the songs are sent in from songwriters around the world. A recent success story comes from Nashville’s The Local Taco.

The Local Taco used MusikPitch to launch a $1000.00 jingle contest. The contest ran for the standard length of 14 days, and The Local Taco received over 60 entries from competing songwriters. The Local Taco chose a song composed by MusikPitch member and songwriter James Barratt. MusikPitch is temporarily waiving the $39.00 contest fee when you use referral code 50501. Click here to get started.

>>Bug Music Publishing, the largest independent contemporary music publisher in the world, has claimed eight songs in the Top 100 for the first quarter of 2010, as reported in Billboard’s publishers quarterly, up 29% from a year ago. The company currently holds the No. 6 spot in Billboard’s Top Publishers Chart and the No. 7 spot on Billboard’s Top Country Publishers Chart.

During the first quarter of 2010 the company held shares in eight Top 100 charting hits. Recent deals have included signing multi-platinum songwriter/producer Lucas Secon, multi-platinum, acclaimed country songwriter Gordie Sampson, Paul Westerberg from seminal alt-rock band The Replacements, re-signing the Grammy Award winning band Wilco and, under the banner of Arthouse Entertainment, signings of producer/songwriter Mitch Allan and multi-platinum producer/songwriter Mike Elizondo. For more information visit www.bugmusic.com.