Music News (1/8/14)

ASCAP has released its 100th birthday campaign’s centerpiece song and music video, “More Than the Stars,” a collaboration featuring 15 top ASCAP songwriter and composer members, including Amy Grant, Lady Antebellum’s Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood, ASCAP Country Music Songwriter of the Year Josh Kear, Ne-Yo, Dan Wilson, Bill Withers and more.

“More Than the Stars” will join the Why We Create Music film, both directed by Already Alive filmmaker and co-founder Michael Marantz. Ascap.com also features an interactive timeline that is revealing 100 Years of ASCAP’s history, one day at a time.

• • •

Pictured (L-R): Copyright Society of the South Chairman of the Board John Barker;
Board Members Bob Mather, Wendi Crosby, Kele Currier and Casey McGinty; Copyright Office Counsel
Steve Ruwe; Maria Pallante; Board Members Dan Ekback, Ted Goldthorpe, and Jill Napier.

The Copyright Society of the South, in partnership with the Nashville chapter of AIMP, recently held an event with the U.S. Register of Copyrights, The Honorable Maria Pallante, at The First Amendment Center. Pallante discussed several court cases on copyright and technology, the proposed Next Great Copyright Act, and briefed the crowd on legislative updates.

Additionally, the organization has elected a new Board of Directors for the 2014 term, as well as officers. Janice Jackson (Travellers Hollow Music), will begin her eighth year tenure as Administrative Director. Richard Frank, Jr. has been named a Lifetime Honorary Director of the Copyright Society of the South.

The Copyright Society of the South was formed in 1988, in Nashville by music publishers, attorneys, business people and others interested in copyright law. It provides a forum for study and discussion of domestic and international copyright law and other matters pertaining to the entertainment industry.

The new CSOS Board of Directors for 2014:

Officers
Chairman of the Board – John Barker, ClearBox Rights
Vice Chairman – Jill Napier, Music Services, Inc.
Secretary – Kele Currier, ASCAP
Treasurer – Denise Stevens, Loeb & Loeb

Board Members
Karl Braun, Hall Booth Smith, P.C.
Amy Cranford, Amy Cranford Consulting
Wendi Crosby, Major Bob Music
Ted Goldthorpe, Sony/ATV Music
Misha Hunke, BMI
John Rolfe, Rolfe Entertainment Law

Lifetime Honorary Director
Richard Frank, Jr.

• • •

For the third consecutive year, Bob Kingsley’s Acoustic Alley will return to Country Radio Seminar on Feb. 20 with an all-star lineup of hit songwriters.

Ben Hayslip, Luke Laird, Shane McAnally, Brandy Clark, Ashley Gorley, Rodney Clawson, Brett James, Matt Jenkins, Rhett Akins and Dallas Davidson are set to perform at the event, which is presented by Bob Kingsley’s Country Top 40 and co-sponsored by SunTrust Bank. Kingsley will host the event.

This year’s Acoustic Alley will be held on Feb. 20 from 7 p.m. until midnight at the Renaissance Hotel’s Belmont Room. Food and beverages will be available. A CRS badge will be required for admittance.

CRS 2014 $499 Regular registration rate expires Jan. 13. On-site registration increases to $599 and is effective Jan. 14. For more information, visit countryradioseminar.com.

• • •

Pictured (standing, L-R): Dan Marshall and Tom Petrone. Seated (L-R): John Kennedy and Derek Crownover.

Songwriter John Kennedy has signed an exclusive songwriter agreement with MP Music House. Kennedy, a Mississippi native, co-wrote Leann Rimes‘ Top 5 hit from 2008, “Probably Wouldn’t Be This Way.” Other artists who have recorded Kennedy’s songs include Faith Hill, Billy Ray Cyrus, Josh Gracin, Jack Ingram and others.

MP Music House is owned by professional hockey scout, Danny Marshall (of the Bobby Orr Group), and New York-based songwriter, Tom Petrone. The publishing company has a current Nashville catalog of over 300 songs and is adding Kennedy’s new songs to its repertoire. Scott Paschall and Matt Lindsey will be working MP Music House’s catalog.

• • •

The Hummons

A song written by Marcus Hummon, son Levi Hummon and Andrew Dorff is in the running for an Academy Award. “Make It Love” from the film Two: The Story of Roman & Nyro is on the list of 75 potential final nominees for Best Original Song. The final ballot will be revealed Jan. 16.

The film is about megahit songwriter Desmond Child, his partner Curtis Shaw, and the birth of their twins via surrogate. “Make It Love,” performed by The Hummons, will soon be available via HitShop Records and Child’s Deston Entertainment.

Several songs with Nashville ties are on the long list, but unfortunately songwriters names aren’t given. Among the contenders:

• “Sweeter Than Fiction” from One Chance, performed and written by Taylor Swift with fun. guitarist Jack Antonoff

• “Last Mile Home” from August: Osage County, written and performed by Kings of Leon

• “Forgiveness” from Brave Miss World, performed by Natalie Maines and Ben Harper, written by Linor Abargil

This list includes artist names but not songwriters.