Music News (6/10/15)

(L-R): SMACKSongs Creative Manager Robert Carlton, Kobalt Music Group Senior VP Whitney Daane, Josh Osborne, SMACKSongs Creative Director Robin Palmer, Shane McAnally, attorney Jason Turner, ASCAP Nashville VP Michael Martin and attorney Jordan Keller. Photo: Jason Krupek

SMACKSongs President and CEO Shane McAnally announced the signing of songwriter Josh Osborne as a partner of the music publisher on June 8.

Osborne’s No. 1 songs include Kenny Chesney’s “Come Over,” Billy Currington’s “We Are Tonight,” Eli Young Band’s “Drunk Last Night” and Blake Shelton’s “My Eyes.” He is a frequent collaborator of Sam Hunt (co-writing his No. 1s “Leave the Night On” and “Take Your Time”) and Kacey Musgraves (co-writing the GRAMMY-winning “Merry Go Round”). Osborne currently has three songs on the charts: Chesney’s “Wild Child,” Jake Owen’s “Real Life” and Shelton’s “Sangria.”

Kobalt, an independent music publishing and global music rights management services company, will serve as the exclusive worldwide administrator for SMACKSongs.

Osborne was previously signed to Black River Publishing, which he joined in 2010.

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Pictured (L-R): Emily Mueller (ole Creative Manager), John Ozier (ole GM Creative), Ben Strain (ole Creative Director), Noah McPike (Almon & McPike, PLLC) and Jordan Davis.

ole, the independent rights management company, has signed singer/songwriter Jordan Davis to a worldwide publishing deal that includes his existing copyrights as well as future compositions.

Originally from Shreveport, La., and currently residing in Nashville, Davis has previously written with ole songwriters Josh Dorr, Marty Dodson, Bruce Wallace, and Brett Jones.

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Pictured (L-R): AJ Burton (Nettwerk/Revelry), Neil Mason and Greg Beeckman (Revelry)

Nettwerk One Music/Revelry Music Group’s AJ Burton announced that the company has renewed its long-term exclusive songwriting deal with Neil Mason.

The drummer and songwriter for The Cadillac Three also has the new A Thousand Horses single, “(This Ain’t No) Drunk Dial.” Mason has had cuts by Jake Owen, Miranda Lambert, and Rascal Flatts, as well as various film and TV placements, including a recent nationwide Samsung commercial.

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Pictured (L-R): Top Row: Chuck Fleckenstein, GM/COO Still Working Music; Tiffany Dunn, Loeb & Loeb; Brittany Schaffer, Loeb & Loeb; Kevin Lane, Creative Dir. BMG Chrysalis; Daniel Lee, Sr. Creative Dir. BMG Chrysalis Nashville. Middle Row: Tim Fink, SESAC; Chelsea Kent, Creative Dir. Still Working Music; Neal Spielberg, Manager; Kos Weaver, EVP BMG Chrysalis Nashville; Tommy Lee James, CCO Still Working Music. Bottom row: Alex Orbison; President Still Working Music; Alana Springsteen.

Still Working Music and BMG Chrysalis Nashville have partnered to sign 14-year-old singer-songwriter Alana Springsteen to a worldwide publishing agreement. She has been making trips to Nashville since she was ten, and she and her family have recently relocated to Nashville from Virginia Beach, Virginia to pursue her music career.

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Seated (L-R): Zach Lockwood and Chris Hunter, Pres. Old Gringo Music. Standing: Kenneth Wright, Pres. Dis Keef Music and Orville Almon, Jr., Almon & McPike, PLLC

Old Gringo/Dis Keef Music has signed songwriter Zach Lockwood to an exclusive worldwide publishing agreement. The 26-year-old has been involved in music his entire life. As a writer and performer since his teens, the Connecticut native moved to Nashville three years ago and has been working and writing with some of Music City’s brightest talent.

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Kobalt has created a global, direct, digital mechanical and performing rights society. According to the company, this is the first global society of its kind. It is expected to debut this summer.

Following last year’s acquisition of AMRA (American Music Rights Association), Kobalt is combining AMRA’s music rights administration framework with its own advanced royalty processing platform, KORE, to provide fast, efficient royalty distribution with total transparency. Through continued partnerships with major digital service providers (DSPs) around the world, AMRA will broaden the direct-collection capabilities across the globe for its members.

This is designed to bypass the numerous collection societies around the world, so that digital music outlets can work with the one service, which would streamline the process and result in more accurate, timely payments to rights holders.

The New York Times has a lengthy article on this initiative, and reports AMRA’s administration fee would be 7.5 percent.

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Apple Music, offering streaming, online radio and an artist connection component, will be available starting June 30 in over 100 countries.

Initially, Apple Music will be available on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, and PC. It will come to Apple TV and Android phones this fall. The streaming service and app includes the entire 30 million songs in the Apple Music catalog, and users can also listen to their own uploaded music.

Additionally, Apple Music Radio will offer curated stations across all genres. Members can skip as many songs as they like.

In addition to human curation, users can ask Siri to, “Play me the best songs from 1994,” or “What was the number one song in February 2011?”

A 3-month free membership will be available June 30, after which a $9.99/month subscription fee will apply. There will also be a family plan providing service for up to six family members for $14.99/month.