Music News (12/09/15)

Grammy Reveals Song of the Year Noms

“Girl Crush” is nominated in the overall Song of the Year category for the Grammy Awards, an award that is presented to songwriters. Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna and Liz Rose – also known as the Love Junkies — are the writers of “Girl Crush.”

Contenders for Best Country Song are: “Chances Are” (written by Hayes Carll), “Diamond Rings and Old Barstools” (written by Barry Dean, Luke Laird and Jonathan Singleton), “Girl Crush,” “Hold My Hand” (written by Brandy Clark and Mark Stephen Jones), and “Traveller” (written by Chris Stapleton).

Final-round Grammy ballots will be mailed Dec. 16 and awards will be presented Monday, Feb. 15, 2016, live from STAPLES Center in Los Angeles and broadcast on CBS.

Read more at MusicRow.com.

Craig Wiseman Featured on MusicRow.com

Craig Wiseman. Photo: Amy Allmand

The full vision for Craig Wiseman’s enterprise is coming to fruition at 1111 16th Avenue South in Nashville. Read the full interview at MusicRow.com.

Leigh Nash Signs with BMG

Pictured Left To Right: Kevin Lane (BMG, Creative Director); Chris Oglesby (BMG, VP – Creative); Ashley Wilcoxson (Thirty Tigers – Manager); Leigh Nash; Daniel Lee (BMG, Senior Creative Director); Kos Weaver (BMG, Executive Vice President); Sara Knabe (BMG, Senior Creative Director)

Songwriter Leigh Nash has signed an exclusive publishing agreement with BMG through the company’s Nashville office.

Nash scored several worldwide hits as part of the group Sixpence None The Richer, such as “Kiss Me.” In September, she released a new full-length solo album, The State I’m In, produced by Brendan Benson, in conjunction with Thirty Tigers.

Nash has been featured in numerous global advertising placements and will continue her work as a recording and performing artist as she strengthens her ties within the Nashville songwriting community.

Sony/ATV Music Publishing Adds High Valley’s Brad Rempel

Pictured (L-R): Troy Tomlinson, Sony/ATV Nashville; Abbey Adams, Sony/ATV Nashville; Brad Rempel; Josh Van Valkenburg, Sony/ATV Nashville; Jason Turner, Keller Turner Ruth Andrews & Ghanem, PLLC; Danny Strick, Sony/ATV New York.

Sony/ATV Music Publishing has signed Brad Rempel, of country duo High Valley, to a publishing agreement. Atlantic Records/WMN recently signed Brad and his brother Curtis as a duo to a record deal.

High Valley released an album titled County Line on Canadian label Open Road in 2014. They won the Canadian CMA Award for Group or Duo of the Year in 2015.

Hannah Ellis Signs to Word Music Publishing/Wordcountry

Pictured (L-R): Trevor Mathiessen, Word Publishing; Jonathan Mason, Creative Director, Word Worship; Beth Brinker, ASCAP, Creative Director; Scott Safford, Safford Motley; Hannah Ellis; Dale Mathews, VP, Word Publishing; Janine Appleton, Creative Director, Wordcountry; Joel Timen, Creative Director, Word Publishing; Kele Currier, ASCAP Membership; Rod Riley, CEO, Word Entertainment

Songwriter Hannah Ellis has signed an exclusive publishing agreement with Word Music Publishing/Wordcountry.

She graduated from the University of Kentucky in December 2012 and moved to Nashville soon after. She is spotlighted in a commercial for the University that is airing now. She also appeared in Season 8 of The Voice.

Round Hill Music Signs Schmarx & Savvy

Pictured (Front Row, L-R): Josh Saxe, Assoc. Dir. A&R, Round Hill; Marc “Schmarx” Schneider; Savannah “Savvy” Giersch; Mark Brown, VP / GM Round Hill, Nashville. (Back Row, L-R): Eric Griffin, attorney; Matthew Beckett, attorney

Round Hill Music has signed songwriters Marc “Schmarx” Schneider and Savannah “Savvy” Giersch to its Nashville roster. They will concentrate on pop songwriting and artist development, as well as writing for synch placements.

Originally from Pennsylvania, Schmarx attended Full Sail University where he studied production and songwriting. After moving to Nashville, Schmarx developed a relationship with hit songwriter Brett James, with whom he gained engineering and programming credits on Kip Moore’s sophomore album, Wild Ones.

Hailing from Virginia, Savvy attended Berklee College of Music. After college, she moved to Austin, Texas, and signed her first publishing deal. There she achieved success with Rebecca Stella’s No. 1 dance hit “Give Me That O” and a placement on ABC’s Nashville with The Wagoneers‘ “Take You There.”

Schmarx and Savvy also co-wrote “Miami To L.A.,” the single for YouTube star Noah Schnacky. They are writing and programming a project with recording artist Julia Cole.​

Bob DiPiero Signs Admin with Kobalt

Pictured (L-R): Jody Williams, VP, Writer Publisher Relations, BMI; Bob DiPiero; Whitney Daane, SVP Creative, Kobalt Music Publishing; Stephanie Cox, VP Creative, Kobalt Music Publishing. Photo: John Russell

Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member Bob DiPiero has joined Kobalt Music Publishing, under a worldwide administration agreement in which Kobalt will administer and provide global creative services for DiPiero’s current and future works.

Pop stars Meghan Trainor, Ariana Grande and Who Is Fancy performed one of DiPiero’ cuts, “Boys Like You,” Monday night (Nov. 21) on Dancing With The Stars. The single was co-written by DiPiero, Jason Gantt, and artist Fancy.

DiPiero has had more than 1,000 of his songs recorded. He has penned a No. 1 country single in each of the past four decades, beginning with 1983’s “American Made,” recorded by The Oak Ridge Boys. He has amassed 15 No. 1 hits, and is an inductee in the Nashville Walk of Fame.

ole Inks Administration Deal With Reviver Records

Pictured (L-R): David Ross, President/CEO, Reviver Records; Chris Lucas, LOCASH; Tim
McGraw; Preston Brust, LOCASH; John Ozier, GM Creative, ole; Randall
Foster, Sr. Director Creative Licensing, ole

ole has signed an exclusive administration agreement with the publishing arm of Reviver Records, LLC.

Reviver was founded by Ross, who has worked with SonyBMG Music Worldwide Entertainment, the TJ Martell Foundation, CMJ, Alpha Distributors, and his own S*Management. Reviver Publishing, based in New Jersey under Reviver Records, LLC, a production and management company, has recently found a second home in Nashville, Tennessee.

Mickey Jack Cones Launches Co-Venture With Combustion Music

Pictured (L-R): Mickey Jack Cones, Cor Entertainment; Chris Van Belkom, Combustion Music; Jordan Walker and Johnny McGuire of Walker McGuire; Chris Farren, Combustion Music; Kenley Flynn, Combustion Music.

Producer Mickey Jack Cones has launched Cor Entertainment, including the subsidiaries Cor Music Publishing, and Cor Artist Services. The company has entered into a co-venture with Combustion Music.

The first artist signed to the new venture is duo Walker McGuire, which includes Jordan Walker of Vernon, Texas, and Johnny McGuire of Fairway, Kansas. The duo formed in 2012, and spent years performing at Nashville writers nights. The duo was featured by radio show hosts Big D and Bubba each week on the radio talent show, Chasin’ The Dream.

For a full profile on Mickey Jack Cones, click here.

NaSHOF Songwriter Ted Harris Passes

Ted Harris. Photo: Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame

Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame (NaSHOF) member Ted Harris has died at age 78.

Among his best-known songwriting hits are Charley Pride’s “The Happiness of Having You,” Dottie West’s “Paper Mansions,” Ferlin Husky’s “Once” and the Glen Campbell/Steve Wariner duet “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle.” The much-recorded country standard “Crystal Chandelier” is also a Ted Harris song. He is the most-awarded country songwriter in the history of SESAC.

Read more at MusicRow.com.

TuneCore Urges Users to Reset Passwords after Hack

TuneCore—music distribution and publishing administration company—CEO Scott Ackerman notified users on Friday (Dec. 4) after becoming aware of a security breach that happened in November.

The company has since invalidated all user passwords and reports the issue has been resolved, although it is asking users to reset their passwords with TuneCore and any other website or account that may share that same password.