Music News (1/6/21)

Top Songwriter Chart: MusicRow’s Top 100 Songwriters Of 2020

While the past year was difficult for all, 2020 saw these elite songwriters garner ample chart success on the weekly MusicRow Top Songwriter Chart. Using algorithms based on song activity according to airplay, digital downloaded track sales and streams, these songwriters prevailed in 2020.

Hillary Lindsey. Photo: Becky Fluke

Notably, there are 19 female songwriters in the top 100 this year—which is made up of 112 songwriters because of tied scores. This is a continued increase from last year’s 13 female songwriters within the top 100, and 2018’s 11. Hillary Lindsey is the highest ranking female on this year’s list, at No. 11.

The songs that propelled Lindsey to No. 11 include Luke Bryan’s “What She Wants Tonight,” HARDY’s “One Beer,” Kelsea Ballerini’s “Hole In The Bottle,” and Jordan Davis’ “Almost Maybes.” Among her 2020 honors were Songwriter of the Year at the ACM Awards and Female Songwriter of the Year at the MusicRow Awards.

Josh Osborne

For the second time in the MusicRow Top Songwriter Chart’s history, Josh Osborne takes the top position. Songs of his that were hits in 2020 include Sam Hunt’s “Kinfolks,” “Hard To Forget,” and “Breaking Up Was Easy In The 90’s,” Morgan Wallen’s “7 Summers,” Darius Rucker’s “Beers And Sunshine,” both Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani hit duets “Nobody But You” and “Happy Anywhere,” and more.

Osborne ended 2020 in the No. 1 position on the weekly MusicRow Top Songwriter chart for the sixth consecutive week. Osborne won Song of the Year at the ACM Awards this year for “One Man Band,” recorded by Old Dominion.

Click here to read more on musicrow.com.
 

The Mechanical Licensing Collective Begins Full Operations

The MLC (Mechanical Licensing Collective) officially began administering the new blanket license, established by the Music Modernization Act of 2018, on Jan. 1, 2021. The MLC anticipates sending out its first royalty payments and statements in April of 2021.

Services operating under the blanket license will be required to send monthly usage reports and mechanical royalty payments to The MLC, who will then match the usage activity to the appropriate musical works owners using the data in The MLC’s new musical works database, and distribute the royalties it has received to music publishers, musical works administrators and self-administered songwriters, composers and lyricists.

Since last summer, The MLC has engaged with more than 50 DSPs expected to be eligible to secure the new blanket license to ensure those services are aware of their new legal responsibilities and solicit feedback. Working closely with the Digital Licensee Coordinator, the organization created by The MMA to represent digital audio services, The MLC conducted a series of webinars specifically designed for DSP representatives. Last Fall, The MLC launched a dedicated DSP Resources page on its website (TheMLC.com/dsp-resources) that includes an online form for DSPs to use to submit their Notices of License, usage reporting specifications they will need for submitting their monthly usage reports to The MLC and a calendar of key dates for them to track.

The MLC will also offer a number of key benefits for rights holders, starting with The MLC Portal, a brand new online resource where members can review and update their existing musical works data, submit new registrations for new works and, starting later this Spring, access their royalty statements. Since beginning the roll-out of The MLC Portal in September, more than 8,000 members have been invited to set up their user accounts and member profiles in The MLC Portal, which will continue to be enhanced for even greater functionality. Prospective members who have not yet begun that process can now do so by clicking on the “Connect to Collect” button on The MLC’s website.
 

The Recording Academy Postpones Grammy Awards To March

The Recording Academy has postponed the Grammy Awards to March 14, 2021. The show’s postponement is due to health concerns with the COVID-19 pandemic. On Monday (Jan. 4), California set a new single-day record of 74,000 new cases.

The 63rd Grammy Awards were to broadcast from Los Angeles on the CBS network on Sunday, Jan. 31.

In a joint statement, Chair & Interim President/CEO of the Recording Academy, Harvey Mason jr.; Executive Vice President, Specials, Music, Live Events and Alternative Programming, CBS, Jack Sussman; GRAMMY Awards Executive Producer, Fulwell 73 Productions, Ben Winston, said:

“After thoughtful conversations with health experts, our host and artists scheduled to appear, we are rescheduling the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards to be broadcast Sunday, March 14, 2021. The deteriorating COVID situation in Los Angeles, with hospital services being overwhelmed, ICUs having reached capacity, and new guidance from state and local governments have all led us to conclude that postponing our show was the right thing to do. Nothing is more important than the health and safety of those in our music community and the hundreds of people who work tirelessly on producing the show.

We want to thank all of the talented artists, the staff, our vendors and especially this year’s nominees for their understanding, patience and willingness to work with us as we navigate these unprecedented times.”

Nominees for the 63rd Grammy Awards were announced in November of 2020. Yesterday (Jan. 4) was the last day for Recording Academy members to vote for the winners. Grammy-nominated comedian Trevor Noah was slated to be the host of the 2021 Grammys, but it is unclear if he will still host this year’s show.
 

Soundstripe Names Drew Weaver Chief Operating Officer

Drew Weaver

Soundstripe has hired music, tech, and entertainment industry veteran Drew Weaver as Chief Operating Officer. In the newly-created COO role, he will be responsible for overseeing day-to-day operations at Soundstripe, reporting to Co-Founders and Co-CEOs Travis Terrell and Micah Sannan.

As COO, Weaver will help manage the rapid growth and continued business-line expansion at Soundstripe, a leader in the stock media industry that provides a catalog of royalty-free music, stock video, and sound effects to creators who need affordable, hassle-free access to media assets for their videos, podcasts, and other projects.

Prior to joining Soundstripe, Weaver was SVP and Head of Product for Pantaya, the fast-growing Spanish-language streaming service backed by Lionsgate and Hemisphere Media. He also supported product and international business operations at Starz, the global media and entertainment company and OTT streaming service acquired by Lionsgate in 2016. Before Lionsgate, Weaver was SVP of Product Management at TouchTunes, the country’s largest in-venue interactive music and entertainment platform, where he led the product and design teams behind the company’s digital jukebox network and popular mobile app, used in over 60,000 locations in North America. Previously, he held executive product and operational roles at AOL and SiriusXM, where he innovated, launched, and ran various consumer products used by millions of users and supported by various business models including SiriusXM’s streaming mobile apps and personalization for AOL Instant Messenger.

Soundstripe is one of the Top 5 fastest-growing private media companies in the U.S. according to the 2020 Inc. 5000 list.
 

Logan Mize Proves He’s ‘Still That Kid’ On New Album Due January 27

Logan Mize is releasing his latest project, Still That Kid, on January 27 via Big Yellow Dog Music.

The album is a celebration of Mize’s rural upbringing with songs like “American Livin” and “Who Didn’t” that reminisce on the Mayberry-esque aspect of small-town America, while “Hometown” takes listeners through the real-life story of Mize’s journey to Music City and finding his way back home. The collection features tracks penned by top country writers including Rhett Akins, Nicolle Galyon, Ashley Gorley, Chris DeStefano and more.

Mize reminds us of the lessons learned from our teenage mistakes on the track “Practice Swing,” while “Prettiest Girl in the World” looks to the future and the lessons in self-love that he’s passing on to his daughter Violet. “Slow” acknowledges 2020’s silver lining in teaching us all to slow down and not move so fast through life. Mize showcases his fun-loving enthusiasm in upbeat tracks like “I Ain’t Gotta Grow Up” (featuring Willie Jones), “Get ‘Em Together”(featuring Clare Dunn), and “Something Just Like This,” an edgy cover of The Chainsmokers & Coldplay hit. He also touches on heartache on songs like “Gone Goes On and On” and on two very different versions of “Grew Apart” — one featuring songwriter Donovan Woods and the other with Alexandra Kay.