Music News 12/2/2010

Marcus Hummon

Warner/Chappell Music has signed a worldwide co-publishing agreement with hit songwriter Marcus Hummon. He is behind hits and cuts for Rascal Flatts, Garth Brooks, Dixie Chicks, Brooks & Dunn, Tim McGraw, Wynonna Judd, Sara Evans, Alabama, Lee Ann Womack and more. His co-write “Bless the Broken Road” (Rascal Flatts) won the 2006 Grammy for Best Country Song.

Hummon recently released an independent album, Rosanna, and has been touring the UK with Beth Nielsen Chapman. He is composing work for an IMAX film, We the People, which is being produced for the Smithsonian Institute. Hummon has also written five musicals, two operas, and a children’s book.

Warner/Chappell was the No. 1 Country Music publisher for the third quarter of 2010 (Nielsen BDS radio airplay from HFA). Among the publishers recent hits were Blake Shelton’s “All About Tonight,” co-written by Warner/Chappell’s Ben Hayslip; Josh Turner’s “All Over Me,” co-written by Hayslip; Lady Antebellum’s “Our Kind of Love,” co-written by Warner/Chappell’s Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood; and Lee Brice’s “Love Like Crazy,” co-written by Warner/Chappell’s Tim James.

Warner/Chappell has also extended its worldwide co-publishing agreement with Josh Farro of Paramore, and signed Monique Staffile and Caleb Sherman of country band Her & Kings County.
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Extreme Music has partnered with Watsky Music to form Stampede, a country music production library geared toward film and television licensing. Watsky is headed by Jonathan Watkins and Dennis Matkosky.

Among the songwriters on board with Stampede are Matksoky, Travis Howard, and Ty Lacy.

Lacy and Matkosy are co-writers of hits for Keith Urban (“You’ll Think of Me”) and LeAnn Rimes (“I Need You”).

During Matkosky’s 30-year career, he also penned the Grammy winning, Oscar/ Golden Globe nominated track “Maniac,” off the Flashdance soundtrack. His other hits include Martina McBride’s “I Just Call You Mine,” and David Nail’s “Red Light.”

Lacy’s other writing credits include “That’s How Love Moves” from Faith Hill’s Breathe album, and “That’s What Hurts,” recorded by Hall & Oates.

Travis Howard is a frequent co-writer with Miranda Lambert, and their collaborations have resulted in her songs “Famous in a Small Town,” “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” “Bring Me Down,” and “Heart Like Mine.”
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It was announced recently (11/26) that BMG will acquire Chrysalis Music in a deal valued at approximately $168.6 million.

In April, Dale Bobo took office as Executive Vice President, Chrysalis Music Nashville. Among Chrysalis’s Nashville songwriters are Jim McCormick, Victoria Banks, Jeff Stevens and Shelley Skidmore.

Among the publisher’s 100,000 copyrights are songs recorded by Michael Jackson, the Beatles, Blondie, David Bowie, Sheryl Crow, and Outkast.

BMG has been steadily buying up publishers for more than a year. More from musicrow.com here.