Music News 10/13/11

Evan Lamberg

Universal Music Group has promoted Evan Lamberg to President of Universal Music Publishing Group, North America, it was announced by UMG Pres./COO Zach Horowitz and UMG Chairman/CEO Lucian Grange. Lambert previously served as Exec. VP, Creative, for UMPG’s East Coast division.

In his new role, Lamberg will lead North American operations for the company, which includes Pop, Urban, Country, Latin, Christian/Gospel and Canadian division. He will be based out of UMPG’s Santa Monica headquarters.

During his tenure with UMPG, Lamberg has been signed or worked with some of music’s best known songwriting talent including Justin Bieber, Owl City, Desmond Child, and more. He also signed a joint venture agreement with GloJoe Music that yielded eight cuts for DJ White Shadow on Lady Gaga’s Born This Way, including the hit title song and followup “Edge Of Glory.” Prior to joining UMPG, Lamberg spent over 17 years with EMI Music Publishing, including time as Executive VP of Creative, North America.

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Blanchard, La., native Forest Whitehead recently inked a publishing agreement with Black River Publishing. This is the 20-year-old songwriter’s first publishing deal.

(L-R) Standing: ASCAP’s Robert Filhart and Black River Publishing’s Robert Carlton, Celia Froehlig and Gordon Kerr. Seated: Whitehead

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Keithan Melton

Magic Mustang Music has added Keithan Melton as Creative Director for the publishing company where he will be involved in all day-to-day creative activities.

Most recently Melton was in a similar role at Wide Open Music Group. He previously spent three years as the Creative Director for Sea Gayle Music. Over the course of Melton’s career he has placed songs with Trace Adkins, Jake Owen, Danny Gokey, Love and Theft, James Otto, Blake Wise and more.

“We’ve been very fortunate to be able to grow so quickly as a company,” says Magic Mustang Sr. Creative Director Juli Newton-Griffith. “With the hiring of Keithan, who has been able to hit the ground running, we have the perfect addition to our team.” The company represents songwriters Jason Aldean, Thompson Square, Sherrie Austin, Ash Bowers, Rob Hatch, Kristy Lee Cook, Kurt Allison, Tully Kennedy, John Edwards, Rich Redmond and Westin Davis.

Melton is already on the job and can be contacted at keithan@magicmustang.com.

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The downtown Nashville location of Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville recently hosted a Songplugger Mixer event, where pluggers of all stripes mingled and the fun included a tropical dress up contest.

(L-R) Penny Everhard, Melanie Howard, Will Byrd, Jason Morris and Carrie Bleitner