Music News (11/11/15)

“Girl Crush” Wins Big at CMA Awards

Little Big Town. Photo: Donn Jones/CMA

Besides Chris Stapleton’s sweeping 3-category win at the 49th Annual CMA Awards, Little Big Town’s “Girl Crush” won Song of the Year for writers Lori McKenna, Liz Rose and Hillary Lindsey, and Single of the Year. Read more at MusicRow.com.

30A Songwriters Festival Preps January Event

Set for Jan. 15-17, the 7th annual 30A Songwriters Festival has announced its initial lineup for the event, to be held in venues along scenic Highway 30A in Florida’s South Walton County.

Headline performances will be made from Jackson Browne, Grace Potter, Shovels & Rope, and Wine Women & Song (feat. Matraca Berg, Suzy Bogguss, Gretchen Peters).  Also confirmed are Kristian Bush (Sugarland), Shawn Mullins, Jeffrey Steele, Bobby Bare, Jr., Jim Lauderdale, Bonnie Bishop, Will Kimbrough, Hailey Whitters, Jessi Alexander, Corey Crowder, Kyle Jacobs, Chris DeStefano, Chuck Wicks, Deana Carter, Brian White, JT Harding, Brett James, Matt Jenkins, Jon Nite, and Josh Osborne.

Additional performers and ticket information available at MusicRow.com.

SESAC Promotes Pat Collins to Vice Chairman

Pat Collins

Pat Collins has been named Vice Chairman of SESAC effective April 1, 2016. Collins, who currently serves as President and CEO of SESAC Performing Rights, will now begin to transition to his new role as a Senior Advisor to the Company and Vice Chairman. John Josephson, Chairman and CEO of SESAC, made the announcement.

Executive Vice President Kelli Turner’s responsibilities will be expanded to include oversight of Licensing and Royalty Distribution and Research Services in addition to Finance, Corporate Development, Human Resources and Information Technology. Executive Vice President Dennis Lord’s responsibilities will be expanded to include Creative as well as Business Affairs. In addition, Christos Badavas, currently Associate General Counsel at HFA, will be moving to a corporate role at SESAC as Senior Vice President and Associate General Counsel. Turner, Lord and Badavas will report directly to Josephson, as will SESAC’s Rumblefish business unit, SESAC International and the Company’s Corporate Relations department.

More at MusicRow.com.

ASCAP Database Now Includes Licensable Share Information

ASCAP has added information to its publicly available online ACE database, indicating the percentage share of public performance rights that is “controlled by ASCAP” for each of more than 10 million musical compositions in the ASCAP repertory. The move makes ASCAP the first U.S. public performance rights organization to go public with licensable share data.

The updates will support ASCAP’s request to the U.S. Department of Justice for its members to have more flexibility in their ability to withdraw certain digital rights from the ASCAP repertory by providing a more complete and transparent picture of the intellectual property rights represented by ASCAP.

Sony/ATV and Pandora Agree to Multi-Year Licensing Deal

Pandora and Sony/ATV Music Publishing announced a multi-year licensing agreement for Sony/ATV’s catalog of musical works. The direct publishing deal creates business benefits for Pandora, while modernizing compensation for Sony/ATV and its songwriters in the U.S.

While specific terms of the multi-year agreement are confidential, Sony/ATV reportedly achieved its goal of delivering improved performance royalties for its songwriters while Pandora will benefit from greater rate certainty and the ability to add new flexibility to the company’s product offering over time.

The public performance royalties Pandora also pays to rights holders of master recordings are not affected by this agreement.

Magic Mustang Signs ASCAP Songwriter

Pictured (front row L-R): Colton McGee, BBR Music Group; Lydia Schultz, Magic Mustang; Keithan Melton, Magic Mustang; Juli Newton-Griffith, Magic Mustang; Matt Cottingham, Ritholz Levy; Robert Filhart, ASCAP. (Bottom row L-R): Taylor Davis; Benny Brown, BBR Music Group President/CEO. Photo: BBR Music Group

Magic Mustang Music has signed ASCAP songwriter Taylor Davis to its publishing roster.

A native of Menomonee Falls, Wis., Davis has been in Nashville for the past few years honing his songwriting craft.