Music News (5/7/14)

Erica Glidewell

BMI has promoted three employees in its Nashville offices, Erica Glidewell, Leslie Roberts and Noelle Michon. Glidewell, previously Exec. Assistant to BMI Writer/Publisher Vice President Jody Williams, has been promoted to Associate Director, Writer/Publisher Relations and Roberts, previously Associate Director, has been promoted to Director, Writer/Publisher Relations.

Glenda Hart, BMI Assistant VP, Special Projects, has promoted Michon to Director, Special Projects.

Leslie Roberts

Glidewell will continue to assist Williams and work with songwriters, publishers and producers in Country, pop and Christian music genres. Prior to her work at BMI, Glidewell worked for The Dave Ramsey Show as a Live Events Coordinator and Global Expeditions as the Leadership Development Coordinator.

Noelle Michon

Roberts will continue to sign and work with songwriters, publishers and producers in various genres, and will continue to oversee creative and educational programs. She also plays a large role in the coordinating of BMI’s annual Country Awards, as well as the Christian Awards. Prior to her work with BMI, Roberts worked as a Manager, Artist & Repertoire at Sony BMG Nashville. She also previously served three years as a song plugger for Mighty Isis Music.

As Director, Special Projects, Michon will be responsible for managing all aspects of the BMI award selection process, including the research and analysis of performance information to identify award songs for Pop, Country, R&B/Hip-Hop, Latin, London, Christian and Trailblazer awards. In addition, she will be responsible for conducting research to confirm writer and publisher ownership information for all million-performance award citations. Michon will coordinate and conduct meetings with Writer/Publisher Relations, Performing Rights, and Research and Information to develop award criteria.

In other BMI news, president Del Bryant will receive the Visionary Leadership Award at the upcoming 45th Annual Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction and Awards Dinner in New York City. The event is slated for Thursday, June 12 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel.

Inductees into the Songwriters Hall of Fame at this year’s event include Ray Davies, Donovan, Graham Gouldman, Mark James and Jim Weatherly. The prestigious Johnny Mercer Award will be presented to Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff. Doug Morris will be honored with the Hitmaker Award and Dan Reynolds of Imagine Dragons will receive the Hal David Starlight Award.

Tickets begin at $1000 each, and are available through Buckley Hall Events, 914-579-1000. Net proceeds will go toward the Songwriters Hall of Fame programs.

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Desmond Child and John Stamos on April 26, 2014 in Hollywood.

Photos by PictureGroup

The ASCAP “I Create Music” EXPO was held April 24-26 at the Loews Hollywood Hotel. The conference for songwriters, composers and producers of all genres of music, hosted speakers including Jimmy Jam, Dr. Luke and ASCAP’s Paul Williams. Master Sessions featured Jermaine Dupri, Amy Grant and more.

Desmond Child, who has hits by Katy Perry, Meatloaf, Bon Jovi, KISS and many others, was interviewed by John Stamos on the Brought In for Questioning panel. Child’s advice to those in the audience: “Understand what it means to be an artist, and try to find what you can give before you can get.” 

Country Feedback panelists Joe Fisher, Jimmy Robbins and Michael Knox

SONGS Music Publishing’s Tom DeSavia moderated the Getting Creative: How Publishers and Writers Work Together panel featuring Sony/ATV’s Jennifer Knoepfle, Combustion Music’s Chris Farren, BMG’s Andrew Gould, Universal Music Publishing’s Jessica Rivera and Warner/Chappell’s Greg Sowders. The session addressed the changing role of the publisher, the importance of writing songs that listeners find relatable, and songwriters staying focused.

LeAnn Phelan, the Senior Director of ASCAP in Nashville, led a Country Feedback panel featuring UMG Nashville A&R exec Joe Fisher, producer Michael Knox and hit writer Jimmy Robbins.

ASCAP Nashville songwriter Shane McAnally also took part in the Expo’s closing “The Writers Jam” performance panel.

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As royalties from YouTube continue rising, music publishers and record labels continue identifying opportunities to garner a portion of the payments. Kobalt Music Group has launched ProKlaim, a detection technology that identifies and claims copyrights being used in user-generated videos.

The company states that ProKlaim has matched more than 50 million videos and 1 billion YouTube streams per month.

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Jeffrey Steele‘s 3 Ring Circus Music has signed singer-songwriter Adam James. The Loami, Ill. native moved to Nashville in 2010. He is currently recording with Steele and 3 Ring Circus writer-producer Brandon Hood.

Pictured (Back row, L-R): BMI Executive Director Bradley Collins, 3 Ring Circus Music Director of A&R/Artist Management Casey LeVasseur, 3 Ring Circus Music President Jeffrey Steele, Franklin Publishing & Management President Darrell Franklin, Almon Law senior associate Noah McPike and BMI Vice President Jody Williams. Singer-songwriter Adam James (center).

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Drew Hale

Love Monkey Music & Tom-Leis Music have hired Drew Hale as Creative Director and song plugger. Hale will provide support and development to Love Monkey’s and Tom-Leis’ writer rosters, as well as actively plug songs from the companies’ catalogs.

Hale, a Belmont University graduate, previously worked at Bug Music for several years in a similar role.

Additionally, Emily Peacock has been promoted to Director of Catalog and Office Management for TLM and Love Monkey Music. Peacock has been with the companies since 2011.

Emily Peacock

Tom-Leis Music and Love Monkey Music also partner with Sony/ATV Nashville in co-publishing ventures for songwriters Brandon Kinney, Jason Gantt and Bob DiPiero. Tom-Leis Music partners with Victoria Shaw for songwriter Chad Carlson.

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