Music News (4/20/22)
Reach Music Opens Nashville Office, Adds Sarah Feldman As Director Of Creative
Sarah Feldman. Photo: Jessica Amerson
Reach Music, which represents the catalogs of clients in all genres including Zac Brown, Chuck D, Common, Lisa Loeb, John Mayer, Lindsey Stirling and Judas Priest’s Glenn Tipton, has opened its Nashville office.
Reach purchased a two-story townhouse near Music Row on 18th Avenue South at the end of 2021. The new office represents a natural growth for the company and an opportunity to be more front and center as a publisher in the Nashville community.
Reach Music, founded by Michael Closter, originally opened in New York City almost 30 years ago, eventually establishing an office over 10 years ago in Burbank, California.
Reach has also appointed its first Nashville employee, Sarah Feldman, as Director of Creative. She will be involved in all creative matters, including A&R and songwriter collaborations, and will serve as a member of the synch team. Feldman will be working closely with Reach’s newest signings and local writers, including Sierra Hull, Cindy Morgan, Aric Damm of The Brevet and The Lighthouse and the Whaler.
“We initially worked with Sarah Feldman as a local consultant and she did an impressive job supporting our clients and copyrights in all creative matters,” Closter notes. “Once we had set up an office in Nashville, it was a natural progression and perfect scenario to be able to offer Sarah this full-time position.”
Reach’s Nashville office is located at 1028A 18th Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37212. Feldman can be contacted at sarah@reachmusic.com.
In De Goot Entertainment Expands To Nashville
Bill McGathy. Photo: Jennie McGathy
Artist management company In De Goot Entertainment, home to many successful rock and alternative artists such as Shinedown and Halestorm, has announced their expansion to Nashville. The company also counts Big Machine/John Varvatos Records artist Ayron Jones as part of their roster.
In De Goot Entertainment, led by President, Owner and industry veteran Bill McGathy, is headquartered in New York, and has a presence in St. Louis, Los Angeles, Detroit, London, and now, Music City.
Additionally, In De Goot has announced promotions for several staff members. Of those in the Nashville office, Michael Iurato has been elevated to President of A&R and Artist Development, and Adam Lebensfeld to President of Promotion.
“This is an exciting time for In De Goot. We are positioned to bring the legacies of our established acts to new heights and to break emerging and exciting talent. Our recent staff promotions are well deserved, and our team has made so many important contributions to growing the company and guiding our artists to success. We look forward to an incredible upcoming year of new music and live entertainment, and this is just the beginning of elevating our entire In De Goot team,” says McGathy.
Eric Paslay: ‘I’ve Always Considered Being A Songwriter & Being An Artist The Same Thing’ [Interview]
Eric Paslay. Photo: Rachel Deeb
Platinum-selling, Grammy nominated singer-songwriter Eric Paslay has been a familiar face in the Nashville songwriter and artist community for many years.
Since his first No. 1, Jake Owen‘s “Barefoot Blue Jean Night,” topped the charts in 2011, Paslay has had a hand in writing some of Nashville’s biggest hits, including Eli Young Band‘s “Even If It Breaks Your Heart,” Charles Kelley‘s “The Driver,” Rascal Flatts‘ “Rewind,” Love & Theft‘s “Angel Eyes,” and Keith Urban‘s “Wild Hearts,” among countless others. He’s also had success as an artist with songs such as 2014’s “Friday Night” and “She Don’t Love You.”
Now, as an independent artist, Paslay is putting his own spin on some of his biggest hits as he releases the third and final installment of Even If It Breaks Your Barefoot Friday Night. The project marks the first time he has recorded many of the songs made famous by his contemporaries, and also features some of his own tunes revisited.
With a busy spring ahead of him as he gears up for a trek across the UK with The Shires and the third release in his cutting-edge NFT series, Paslay recently caught up with MusicRow to discuss his new projects, upcoming plans, and his outlook on being a true singer-songwriter.
MusicRow: How did you first get into writing? When did you know that’s what you wanted to do professionally?
I grew up in Texas loving music and I’ve always been drawn to songs. I always thought that every singer wrote what they sang, so if I wanted to be a singer, I thought I needed to write songs. At 15, I got my first guitar and started writing, which led people to say, “Oh, you can sing and you can write songs? You could pull a Willie Nelson and have other people record your music.”
To me, though, I just pictured being a singer and a writer as the same thing. From the moment I started creating music, playing and performing, I’ve just written and have gotten really lucky that other people have recorded my songs.
When did you first get to Nashville and really immerse yourself into the songwriting world?
I moved to Murfreesboro in 2003 and finished up school for music business at MTSU. Brian Gowen was a guy that lived in my hometown that had a deal on Curb and his wife worked for DreamWorks. They were my inside look into realizing that this is a hard business, but [they told me] that I was really good at singing and writing. They encouraged me to find a reason to stick around.
I went to school for music business so that way if I was on the creative side, that’s great, but if I’m not, then I would still be working with music. I was trying to find any way that I could stick around and it worked out that I got to sing and write.
A fun thing that people don’t know is that I actually had a record deal before I ever had a cut. I was signed to Capitol before I ever had a song recorded, which is crazy. “Barefoot Blue Jean Night” went No. 1 before I had “Friday Night” go No. 1. Most people think I rode the coattails of being a songwriter, but I actually had a record deal first.
Category: Music News
