Music News (3/11/20)

Brandy Clark Brings Beauty From Heartache On ‘Your Life Is A Record’ [Interview]

photo credit: Chris Phelps

Brandy Clark didn’t set out to make her latest album, Your Life Is A Record, which released Friday (March 6). But sometimes the right collection of songs just falls into place.

“A lot of things changed for me between my last record and this one,” Clark says. “There was a big regime change at the label and for the first time I was put with an A&R team, with Lenny Waronker and Jeff Sosnow, I started playing them songs and they weren’t familiar with my catalog, so I played things that were written before both my first and second records, and newer songs, too. When I turned in ‘The Past is the Past,’ which is now the last song on the album, they called me and said, ‘I feel like you’re ready to make a record again.’”

For the past seven years, Clark has balanced being one of country music’s most sought-after songwriters and one of its most respected singers. Clark began releasing her own music with 2013’s 12 Stories on the indie label Slate Creek. In addition to the critically lauded album, that same year brought CMA and Grammy nominations for “Mama’s Broken Heart,” which Miranda Lambert turned into a hit. A year later, Kacey Musgraves’ “Follow Your Arrow,” which Musgraves co-wrote with Clark and Shane McAnally, and which featured lyrics about same-sex relationships and smoking marijuana, made history when it was named CMA Song of the Year.

Click here to read more on musicrow.com.

Ian Fitchuk Signs With Sony/ATV

Pictured: Ian Fitchuk, Amanda Hill.

Ian Fitchuk, known for his Grammy-winning work on Kacey Musgraves’ Golden Hour album, has inked a global publishing deal with Sony/ATV Music Publishing.

Fitchuk penned several songs on Musgraves’ Golden Hour project, including “Slow Burn” and “Lonely Weekend.” He has also written and/or produced for artists including Leon Bridges, Birdy, James Bay, Cam, Kesha, Brothers Osborne, Shania Twain, Shawn Mendes, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, Amy Grant, Jake Bugg and Buddy Miller. Fitchuk has also penned music for television, including songs for the hit television show Nashville, and music that was featured in a Google advertisement.

Five Things SoundExchange’s Michael Huppe Wants You To Know

SoundExchange President and CEO, Michael Huppe.

As President and CEO of SoundExchange, Michael Huppe wants to make sure that the organization’s identity and mission is clear. Beyond paying out royalties, SoundExchange works to ensure fair market rates for creators’ works by being a leader in the music industry’s participation in the Copyright Royalty Board’s rate procedures, and works to hold digital music services accountable by conducting audits and pursing legal action when necessary.

Under Huppe’s leadership, SoundExchange has distributed more than $6 billion in digital performance royalties and expanded its operations to serve both the recording and publishing communities.

“I think a lot of people sort of vaguely know what we do, but they don’t necessarily know the specifics,” Huppe says. “We pay out a lot of money to about 50,000-60,000 people, but there’s so much more that we do for the industry that I want to convey. We are constantly fighting to make sure creators get paid more fairly across the board, including publishers, songwriters, producers and artists. We advocate for higher rates, to try to get [creators] paid more fairly abroad. Through audits and things, we try to make sure people in the ecosystem on the services side are paying when they’re supposed to pay. I don’t want people to view us as just this entity that sends them checks once a month, but by everything else that we’re doing to try to make the industry a better place for artists and songwriters.”

MusicRow recently sat down with Huppe to talk about all that SoundExchange is doing to advocate for creators, and what he wants Nashville creators to know.

Click here to read the exclusive on musicrow.com.

Carie Long Joins Big Yellow Dog Music

Carie Long has been hired as Executive Administrator at Big Yellow Dog Music. The music industry veteran will oversee publishing, label and business administration at the company.

Long brings more than 20 years of industry experience to her new role and previously served as Office Manager for Hill Entertainment Group. Throughout her career, Long has also held roles at Universal South, Sony Music Nashville, MCA Records, and as Senior Director of A&R at Toby Keith’s Show Dog Universal Music.
 

Holly Zabka Rises To Sr. VP At Essential Music Publishing

Holly Zabka

Holly Zabka has been promoted to Sr. Vice President at Essential Music Publishing. Zabka was previously Vice President of Publishing at the company.

Zabka was the first executive hired to run the publishing company in 2008 as Sr. Director of Publishing, and was promoted to VP in 2013. Since the inception of the company 12 years ago, Zabka and her EMP team have more than 15,000 copyrights and over 60 No. 1 songs, including “You Say” by Lauren Daigle, which also went No. 1 on the Mainstream Adult Contemporary Top 40 Chart, Cory Asbury’s “Reckless Love,” Zach Williams’ “Chain Breaker,” “Only Jesus” by Casting Crowns, and “Known” by Tauren Wells, among many others.

Additionally, through Zabka’s leadership, Provident’s Publishing division has received four GMA Dove Awards for Song of the Year (“You Say,” “Reckless Love,” “By Your Side,” and “Give Me Your Eyes”), was named 2019 BMI Publisher of the Year, and is a four-time SESAC Publisher of the Year. Under Zabka’s direction EMP has been responsible for signing and partnering with songwriters such as Jason Ingram, Matt Maher, Jonathan Smith, Ethan Hulse, Mia Fieldes, Ran Jackson, and Bryan Fowler, to name a few, and have also signed and represented Provident Label Group artist songwriters including Zach Williams, Tauren Wells, Matt Maher, I AM THEY, Elle Limebear, Vertical Worship, Rhett Walker, and more.

The publishing company is also behind many of today’s country hits, and to date has four No.1’s, three of which were written by Casey Brown for Russell Dickerson: “Every Little Thing,” “Blue Tacoma,” and “Yours.” EMP has also published “Flatliner,” written by Matt Brownleewe and recorded by Cole Swindell and Dierks Bentley.