Music News (4/18/13)

John Ozier

John Ozier has joined ole as its General Manager, Creative in Nashville. Ozier brings a wealth of experience in operating publishing and record label businesses to the new role.

Most recently at Curb Records, Ozier’s track record includes placing songs recorded by Tim McGraw, Rodney Atkins, Clay Walker, Lee Brice, Ronnie Dunn, Jo Dee Messina, LeAnn Rimes and many more.

Additionally, ole has secured a worldwide publishing deal of future songs written by Nashville-based singer/songwriter, Jesse Lee. The deal also includes Lee’s existing catalog, comprised of over 40 compositions. Lee has collaborated with Kara DioGuardi, Hillary Lindsey and ole legacy writer Liz Rose, among others.

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Tim Johnson

A community effort to remember the songs of Tim Johnson will take place 6 pm on Tuesday, May 7th at the Ryman Auditorium featuring more than a dozen hit songwriters and artists. The free gathering will feature performances of unrecorded songs in Johnson’s catalog. Each person who attends the concert will receive an Honor Thy Song, CD including 15 of Johnson’s songs.

Although admission is free, this is a ticketed event. Tickets will be available April 6th at all traditional Ryman Auditorium ticketing outlets.

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Pictured (L-R): Beka Tischker, Dr. Luke, RaeLynn, Scott Borchetta & Mike Molinar
Photos courtesy of Big Machine Label Group/Erik Philbrook

Big Machine Label Group (BMLG) President/CEO Scott Borchetta and Prescription Songs Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald have created a music publishing joint venture between Nashville-based Big Machine Music and Los Angeles-based Prescription Songs. The partnership will allow the two companies to co-publish songwriters and artists whose unique talents translate across genres.

The first writer signed to the publishing joint venture is 18-year-old artist RaeLynn, who was a contestant on Season 2 of NBC’s The Voice. The Baytown, Texas, native is currently writing music for her forthcoming debut Country album.

Read more at MusicRow.com.

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CD Baby has partnered with digital publishing service SongTrust to offer the new service CD Baby Pro, a comprehensive royalty collection service.

The new service interfaces with performance rights organizations to collect royalties on behalf of US-based artists. The offering is made of four primary services including music distribution, songwriter affiliation and/or registration with performing rights organizations ASCAP or BMI, song registration with ASCAP or BMI and international collection agencies, and global royalty collections.

The service will be an add-on opportunity for existing CD Baby Artists, at a cost of $59 per album or $39 per single.

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Twitter debuted its music service. Celebrities including Blake Shelton and Ryan Seacrest have already been given the Twitter music app, and tweeted that they are using it. News outlets including The New York Times reported that the service may be available only to music tastemakers in the early phases of roll out.

Read more here.

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Pictured (L-R): Gary Allan; Natalie Cole; BMI President & CEO Del Bryant; Michael Bolton; and Chris Daughtry.

The BMI Board of Directors celebrated some of BMI’s most prolific songwriters at the 65th Annual National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Dinner on April 9 in Las Vegas. The private event celebrated the career of Michael Bolton, and was attended by BMI songwriters Gary Allan, Natalie Cole and Chris Daughtry.

Top broadcasters including Clear Channel, ABC, NBC, and CBS, along with other key NAB members, BMI executives, and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) members were in attendance.