Music News (3/10/21)

Barrett Baber Signs With Sea Gayle Music

Pictured (L-R, top row): Sea Gayle’s Chris DuBois, Marc Driskill, JD Groover; (L-R, bottom row): Sea Gayle’s Kim Wiggins, songwriter Barrett Baber, songwriter Bobby Pinson

Barrett Baber has signed a publishing deal with Sea Gayle Music.

Baber gained national recognition as a finalist on Season 9 of NBC’s The Voice, logging weekly top 10 iTunes performances and a No. 1 Billboard single with his reinvented cover of the country classic “I’d Love To Lay You Down.” He later released a full-length album A Room Full Of Fighters, which debuted in the top 10 on the iTunes Top 100 Album Charts.

Baber has also been writing with respected songwriters including Bobby Pinson, who immediately saw something special in Baber’s writing and knew something had to be done. “Barrett Baber lights up a room as a person and I’m excited to watch him do the same thing with his music for years to come,” Pinson said.

“Barrett’s writing ability along with his drive and passion made this a no brainer for us,” Sea Gayle Music’s Kim Wiggins adds. “We are beyond thrilled to be partnering with Bobby Pinson on this deal and look forward to sharing success together.”

“There are opportunities, and there are once in a lifetime opportunities,” said Baber. “It’s certainly not lost on me which one this is. I’m thrilled to have the chance to work closely with a legendary publishing company like Sea Gayle in partnership with an equally legendary songwriter in Bobby Pinson. I’m so excited and grateful for the chance to continue the development of my craft with the guidance of such a wonderful team of people, at a place that feels like home.”
 

Annenberg Inclusion Initiative Study Reveals No ‘Meaningful’ Change For Women In Recorded Music

Courtesy: Annenberg Inclusion Initiative

In a study released by USC’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, data shows that significant progress has not been made for inclusion for women in music. Underrepresented racial and ethnic groups have seen an uptick in inclusion.

The report assessed gender and race/ethnicity of artists, songwriters, and producers across the 900 most popular songs from 2012 to 2020, based on the Billboard Year-End Hot 100 Chart. Grammy nominations were also evaluated by gender and race/ethnicity across five categories: Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Best New Artist, and Producer of the Year.

The study was conducted by Dr. Stacy L. Smith, Dr. Katherine Pieper, Marc Choueiti, Karla Hernandez and Kevin Yao. Read the full report here.

Below are some of the key findings:

According to the study, 173 artists appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 Year-End chart in 2020. Of those, 79.8% were men and 20.2% were women, making 2020 not meaningfully different than the percentage of female artists on the Billboard Hot 100 Year-End chart in recent years. The highest percentage of women artists represented on the chart was in 2016, when 28.1% of artists were women.

Women artists were most prevalent in the pop genre (32%) over the last nine years, and least prevalent in hip-hop/rap (12.3%), where 7.1 men charted for every one woman artist.

The top-performing artist of the last nine years was Drake, with 41 songs. On the women’s list, Nicki Minaj and Rihanna prevailed with 21 songs each. Ten of the top 13 artists of the past nine years are from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups.

Courtesy: Annenberg Inclusion Initiative

Of 173 artists in 2020, 59% were underrepresented and 41% were white. 2020 was the fourth consecutive year where the percentage of underrepresented artists increased. Underrepresented artists were most likely to appear on the charts in the genres of R&B/soul (92.1%), hip-hop/rap (87.3%), and pop (36.3%).

Songwriters:

Of the total of 449 songwriters that were credited in 2020, 87.1% were men and 12.9% were women. Across all nine years, 12.6% of songwriters were women, a ratio of seven male songwriters to every one female songwriter.

According to the study, women songwriters were most likely to work on dance/electronic songs (20.5%) and pop (18.7%) music, and least likely to work in hip-hop/rap (6.3%), R&B (9.1%) or country (10.6%).

Courtesy: Annenberg Inclusion Initiative

Producers:

Of the 198 producers credited in 2020, 98% were men and 2% were women. Across a six-year sample (2012, 2015, 2017, and 2018-2020), a total of 1,291 producers were credited. Of these, 97.4% of producers were men and 2.6% were women. This is a ratio of 38 men to every one woman producer.

Out of the 33 women credited as a producer across the six years studied, nine were women of color. Only one woman of color was credited as a producer in 2020—Mariah Carey received a producing credit for “All I Want for Christmas is You,” a song first released in 1994.

Courtesy: Annenberg Inclusion Initiative

Grammy Nominations: 2013 to 2021:

Of the 1,359 individuals that were nominated for a Grammy Award between 2013 and 2021, 13.4% were women and 86.6% were men. This is a ratio of 6.5 men nominated for every one woman nominee.

Women were most likely to be nominated for the Best New Artist award, followed by Song of the Year. Across nine years, roughly 10% or less of the nominees for Record of the Year or Album of the Year have been women. Only one woman has been nominated for Producer of the Year across the entire sample.

From 2020 to 2021, the percentage of women Grammy nominees increased significantly and reached a nine-year high as 28.1% of nominees were women. There were nearly four times as many women nominated for a Grammy Award in 2021 in the five major categories evaluated as there were in 2013.

Courtesy: Annenberg Inclusion Initiative

Sony Music Publishing Extends Global Deal With Luke Bryan

Luke Bryan. Photo: Eric Ryan Anderson

Sony Music Publishing has announced it has renewed a global deal with Luke Bryan.

The four-time Entertainer of the Year and American Idol judge has earned 26 career No. 1 singles, including 13 he co-wrote—among them “I Don’t Want This Night To End,” “Huntin’, Fishin’, And Lovin’ Every Day,” “Move,” “Fast,” “What Makes You Country” and more.

“I’ve enjoyed many years with Sony Music Publishing and I’m happy to continue our partnership. Songwriters are the backbone of country music and being included in this category with arguably the biggest company in the business is unreal. I’m so thankful,” Bryan says.

Sony Music Publishing Nashville CEO Rusty Gaston says, “I am personally so excited for Luke to extend his long-standing relationship with Sony Music Publishing Nashville. His songs are genuine enough to touch the heart of the individual listener and engaging enough to bring an entire stadium to its feet.”

Bryan launched his music career as a songwriter. He first gained prominence after co-writing Billy Currington’s No. 1 single “Good Directions.” Soon to follow was Bryan’s success as an artist with his breakthrough single “All My Friends Say,” from his debut album I’ll Stay Me.

Since his debut in 2009, Bryan has earned more RIAA certified digital singles than any other country act with 54.5 million, tallied 14.6 billion streams, sold 12.5 million albums, and earned seven RIAA album certifications, 22 Platinum singles and 12 multi-Platinum singles.

Recently, Bryan announced that he plans to release a deluxe version of his seventh studio album Born Here Live Here Die Here on April 9, adding six new songs to the original 10 tracks.