Music News (7/22/15)

$500 Cash Prize Up For Grabs During Franklin Open Mic Series

Wild Wing Cafe in Franklin, Tenn. will host its next songwriter open mic series, Nashville Rising Star. Open to songwriters of any genre, the contest starts Wednesday, August 5, from 7:00-9:00 p.m. and will be held subsequent Wednesdays for a total of nine weeks. Seven preliminary rounds feature up to 21 songwriters who each perform one original song with the audience voting for their favorite songwriter/song. A panel of music industry judges also selects their favorite songwriter/song. Each preliminary winner receives a $25 Wild Wing Cafe gift certificate.

The semi-final round will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 23, featuring 14 preliminary round winners. The audience selects one writer, and the music industry panel selects three additional writers to move on to the final round. At the final round, to be held on Wednesday, Sept. 30, the four finalists will perform four songs each. The grand prize winner will be selected by a combination of audience and music industry votes, to receive $500 cash from Wild Wing Cafe, and other prizes provided by event sponsors. For more information, visit nashvillerisingstar.com.

UMPG Enhances Online Account Portal

Universal Music Publishing Group has enhanced its online royalty account portal, RoyaltyWindow.com, so account holders can now see balance updates as royalties are being processed during the royalty period. The company is also offering a new “one-click advance” service that gives writers the ability to request an advance against their incoming royalties without an extra fee.

UMPG was the first major publisher worldwide to provide online accounting for its writers, including 24/7 online access to royalty statements, payment information, royalty data, and a suite of analysis tools and personalized income tracking services.

NSAI Opens Votes For NaSHOF Ceremony

Online voting has begun for professional songwriter members of the Nashville Songwriter Association International‘s (NSAI) 10 Songs I Wish I’d Written award, with the top voted song to receive its Song of The Year title for 2015.

Awards will be distributed during the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame ceremony on October 11, honoring recently announced inductees Rosanne Cash, Mark James, Even Stevens and Craig Wiseman.

Songwriting Great Wayne Carson Passes

Wayne Carson

Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member Wayne Carson passed away July 20 following a long illness.

Noted for such compositions as “The Letter,” “Always on My Mind” and “No Love at All,” Carson was also a recording artist and a song publisher. He died in hospice care at age 73.

Carson was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1997. The Country Music Hall of Fame saluted Wayne Carson by featuring him in its Poets and Prophets songwriter series in 2011.

More than 75 million records have been sold by artists singing his songs.

Carson is survived by his wife Wyndi Harp and son Christian Head. Harpeth Hills Memory Gardens on Highway 100 will be handling the pending funeral arrangements.

Lance Carpenter Re-signs With Parallel

(L-R) back row: Austen Adams, Dickinson Wright PLLC; Denise Stevens, Partner, Loeb & Loeb, LLP; Seated: Hannah Showmaker, Parallel Music Publishing; Lance Carpenter; Tim Hunze, Parallel Music Publishing.

Songwriter Lance Carpenter has re-signed an exclusive global publishing agreement with Parallel Music Publishing.

Carpenter moved to Nashville in 2011 and in 18 short months signed his first publishing deal and secured two major cuts. He co-wrote Kelsea Ballerini’s recent No. 1 song, “Love Me Like You Mean It.”

Paul Moak Inks with Combustion Atlas

Pictured (L-R): Lani Crump (Showdown Management), Paul Moak, Chris Farren (Combustion Music owner/President), Dave Steunebrink (Showdown Management), Kenley Flynn (Creative Dir., Combustion Music)

Grammy-nomintated, ASCAP award winning producer, engineer, mixer, songwriter, and musician Paul Moak has signed a worldwide publishing agreement with independent publishing venture, Combustion Atlas.

Based in Nashville, Moak has amassed credits on more than 500 albums exceeding total sales of 10 million, across a variety of genres, with an impressive roster of artists that includes: Joy Williams, Mat Kearney, John Paul White, Marc Broussard, Relient K, The Vespers, Leagues, Madi Diaz, House of Heroes, Matt Maher, and Goodbye June.

Moak’s work has been featured on hit TV shows One Tree Hill, Private Practice, Pretty Little Liars, The Vampire Diaries and 666 Park Avenue as well as commercials for Bose, American Family Insurance, and Taco Bell.

Neon Cross and Warner/Chappell Music Snag Belmont’s Devin Dawson

Pictured (L-R): Phil May (WC), Ben Vaughn (WC), Devin Dawson, Melissa Spillman (Neon Cross), Brittany Shafer (Loeb & Loeb), Travis Carter (WC)

Neon Cross Music and Warner/Chappell Music have signed a worldwide co-publishing agreement with singer/songwriter Devin Dawson.

Dawson and fellow Belmont University student Louisa Wendorff are known for their mashup of Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space” and “Style” which became a viral sensation. To date it has garnered more than 25 million views on YouTube. Dawson spoke to MusicRow about that project in December.

He is pursuing a Songwriting and Music Business degree at Belmont and is currently recording his debut EP.

Jay Allen Signs with MV2

Pictured (L-R): Clay Myers, Tony Harrell, Jay Allen and James Archer/ CEO, MV2 Entertainment

Singer/songwriter Jay Allen has inked an exclusive publishing deal with MV2, the publishing and artist development company formed by Tony Harrell, James Archer, and Clay Myers.