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Cumulus Media vp of country Charlie Cook is set to leave the company, with his last day being May 31, Billboard has confirmed. Cook also serves as operations manager for Cumulus’ Nashville cluster and program director for Nashville country stations WKDF and WSM-FM Nashville. Cook’s most recent contract renewal was in 2022.
Country Aircheck first reported the news of Cook’s upcoming departure, noting that Cook told vp/market manager Allison Warren, chief content officer Brian Philips and senior vp of programming operations John Dimick in April 2023 of his desire to pursue new challenges. Cook stated, “They asked me to give them a year. Well, here we are almost a year later and it’s time for me to move away from an experience that I have loved for something new and different. Thanking everyone inside Cumulus and in Nashville would fill these pages so I look forward to personally thanking everyone over the next few months.”
Philips said in a statement, “Charlie Cook’s accomplishments and awards are the stuff of Nashville legend. He is of course, in character, irreplaceable. I foresee a future where we will always rely on his wise counsel. He represents the gold standard among Cumulus employees. We are deeply grateful for his immeasurable contributions.”
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Warren added, “Charlie has been a vital part of the Cumulus and specifically WKDF/WSM-FM family for the past nine years. He has helped shape and drive the format of both 103.3 Country and 99.5 Nash Icon, bringing joy and entertainment to countless listeners. He is not only a talented professional, but also a loyal friend and a passionate music lover. We cannot thank him enough for his years of service, dedication, and creativity. We wish him the very best in whatever adventures are ahead. He will be greatly missed, but never forgotten.”
Cook launched his radio career at Michigan stations in the 1970s, followed by roles at stations in Denver, L.A. and New York. He received Billboard‘s country DJ of the year honor in 1977. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, heserved in roles at McVay Media and Westwood One.
Cook was inducted into the Country Radio Hall of Fame in 2011 before joining Cumulus in 2014. Last year, he was honored with the Academy of Country Music’s service award, alongside Bill Mayne; Cook is the Academy of Country Music’s longest-serving board member.
Cumulus Media has launched a search for Cook’s successor, having posted a job opening for a music & brand content manager.
The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival’s first of two weekends has now sold out of general admission tickets, according to promoter Goldenvoice. Once known for selling out on the same day that the lineup was released, this year, the festival took exactly 27 days, four hours and 38 minutes to sell approximately 125,000 tickets […]
Tracy Chapman‘s 36-year-old original version of “Fast Car” is coming to radio again.
One of the most beloved moments at the Feb. 4 Grammy Awards was a rare public performance from Chapman, who collaborated with country artist Luke Combs for a duets version of the song. Originally a hit for Chapman in 1988, Combs’ version brought about a chart resurgence of the song last year.
Now, Rhino Records is servicing Chapman’s song to adult alternative, adult contemporary, Americana, classic hits, classic rock, college and non-commercial formats, according to a source. The recording originally came out on Elektra but now falls under Warner Music Group’s catalog division handled by Rhino.
Rhino is also servicing the video of the pair’s Grammy performance and asking radio stations to add the clip to their socials and websites, but there are no plans to make a quality audio version of the clip available to radio.
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Following Chapman and Combs’ duet at the Grammys, the original version of “Fast Car” earned 6 million official U.S. streams from Feb. 2 to Feb. 8, marking a 153% rise, according to Luminate. “Fast Car” also earned 35,000 digital downloads, elevating it to the top of the Digital Song Sales chart for the first time.
On Monday (Feb. 5), the day immediately following the Grammys performance, “Fast Car” earned 949,000 official on-demand streams — a 241% increase from the 278,000 it earned the previous Monday (Jan. 29). The song also saw its digital sales surge, rising 38,400% from “a negligible amount to nearly 14,000,” Billboard previously reported on Feb. 7. Combs also saw streams of his version rise 37% to nearly 1.6 million while it was up nearly 3,900% in sales to just over 6,000.
Chapman’s original “Fast Car” also re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 this week, landing at No. 42. Her version had previously appeared on the Hot 100 in October 1988, peaking at No. 6. Combs’ version reached No. 2 on the same chart in 2023.
Assistance in reporting this story was provided by Melinda Newman.
Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign‘s collaborative album Vultures 1 moved between distribution companies on Thursday (Feb. 15), starting the day with FUGA and then moving over to Label Engine.
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Label Engine, a distribution company acquired by Create Music Group in 2015, had previously put out the two lead singles from Vultures 1. Confusingly, however, the album then arrived via FUGA.
A FUGA spokesperson told Billboard on Thursday that “a long-standing FUGA client delivered the album Vultures 1 through the platform’s automated processes, violating our service agreement.” As a result, the company said it planned “to remove Vultures 1 from our systems.” This created some turbulence for West’s release, which was briefly pulled off Apple Music and iTunes before it reappeared.
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The album’s new home, Label Engine, was founded by Rich Billis; in 2022, he said that “over 1,500 labels and a total of over 90,000 artists” use his company for distribution.
Billis said the company built its client base in part because “we had a very low [distribution] rate which was 15%, compared to 25% (what a lot of other distributors were charging).”
“We also provided free use of all the accounting and promotion tools I had created,” he continued. “That seemed to do very well. We quickly acquired customers and grew quite quickly in the upcoming years. From there, we got purchased by Create Music Group, which was a client of ours for a year or so. That’s when I took over as CTO of Create Music Group.”
On Wednesday, Spotify also removed the song “Good (Don’t Die)” from Vultures 1 after Donna Summer‘s estate complained it interpolated the singer’s work without permission, as did Amazon Music and Apple Music later, too.
But despite the hiccups around the new album release, listeners continue to seek it out. The song “Carnival” is No. 1 on Spotify’s Daily Top Songs Global chart, picking up nearly 6 million daily streams on the service. “Burn” and “FUK SUMN” are also in the top 20.
For Will Bratton, the best part of Super Bowl LVIII was not when Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Mecole Hardman caught the game-winning pass for an overtime touchdown or when Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker nailed a 57-yard field goal. It was when Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, during the trophy ceremony after the game, belted out an impromptu, raggedy chorus of “Viva Las Vegas” on the CBS broadcast.
Those three words, repeated several times in a pacing and melody only vaguely resembling Elvis Presley’s classic 1964 hit, have delivered an unexpected payday for the song’s rights holders.
“We were very excited about him doing that,” says Bratton, president of Pomus Songs Inc., namesake publisher for the late Doc Pomus, who wrote the song with Mort Shuman. “Royalties are paid for that performance through BMI.”
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Kelce’s rendition constituted an “ephemeral use,” according to Rachel Jacobson, who oversees film and TV for Warner Chappell Music (WCM), which administers Pomus’ recordings. As when a marching band plays an off-the-cuff snippet of a song during a televised football game, the use generates a royalty payment through BMI as a public performance. “Anything beyond that, then you come and clear it,” she says.
Although Bratton couldn’t say how much money Pomus Songs made from Kelce’s performance — “BMI’s generally three quarters behind, so we won’t have that data until probably next December” — the revenue is likely to continue. Late-night talk shows airing Kelce’s version would have to pay for a “previewing synch license,” according to Bratton, which would lead to a negotiated fee as opposed to the ephemeral use royalty payment. WCM’s Jacobson is not aware of any requests for such a license involving Kelce’s rendition of “Viva.”
For the Super Bowl, Bratton says, “It was also licensed to CBS Sports for a pre-game show and it was shown once during the game over a viewing of Taylor Swift. That paid — I don’t want to say how much, but it was good money.”
Written for the Presley film of the same name, “Viva” has come to symbolize Las Vegas glamor-and-gambling culture and has been covered by Bruce Springsteen, Dead Kennedys, ZZ Top and Shawn Colvin. Bob Dylan wrote a chapter about the song in his 2022 book, The Philosophy of Modern Song: “This is a song about faith. The kind of faith where you step under a shower spigot in the middle of the desert and fully believe water will come out.”
The song was also in The Big Lebowski and a Viagra commercial (“Viva Viagra”), which, Bratton recalls, “was a very nice synch license momentarily — but I’m not sure if we regret it or not.”
Pomus, a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame songwriter who wrote classics such as The Drifters’ “Save the Last Dance for Me” and “This Magic Moment”; The Coasters’ “Young Blood”; and Presley’s “Little Sister,” was a “sports fanatic,” according to Bratton, who is married to Pomus’ daughter, Sharyn Felder. “He would have been thrilled that his song was used like that,” he says of Kelce’s “Vegas” rendition. “It was more of a holler than a sing. It was his enthusiasm that was notable.” He adds: “We just like it to make money.”
After watching LGBTQ+ artists dominate at the 2024 Grammy Awards, Ryan Butler — the Recording Academy’s vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion — says he’s finally seeing his team’s hard work pay off. “After those wins, I’m confident that we’ve done the work that was needed,” he tells Billboard.
That work, for the last two and a half years, has involved building out the Academy’s DREAM Initiative (Diversity Reimagined by Engaging All Musicmakers). Through the new network, Butler’s DE&I team created a series of what he calls “membership resource groups” to help “create dialogue and a deeper understanding of what support looks like” for underrepresented groups — including women, the Black community and plenty of others. Now, with their most recent group, the Recording Academy is looking at what they can do to help the LGBTQ+ community.
During Grammy Week, the Recording Academy officially launched Academy Proud, their latest membership resource group aimed at increasing representation and visibility among their voting body. Partnering with LGBTQ advocacy organization GLAAD and queer entertainment organization OUTLOUD, Academy Proud officially launched during a Grammy House event on Sat., Feb. 3.
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So how will Academy Proud actively benefit the LGBTQ+ music community? Below, Billboard chats with Butler about the new initiative, his goals for driving representation at the Academy forward and the work that still needs to be done for underrepresented communities at the Grammys.
Tell me a little bit about how this initiative got started — when did the concept first come up, and when did you decide to partner with GLAAD and OUTLOUD here?
It’s been in my mind for about two and a half years, when we first started to partner with GLAAD. I wanted to create a network of member resource groups — most companies have ERGs (employee resource groups), but we are so member-focused, that I wanted to be a little innovative in this space and create MRGs. So, I created this network called the DREAM network, and under DREAM we have eight priority demographics, and we proceeded to create MRGs around each one of those demographics. So we have Women in the Mix, the Black Music Collective, Grammys Next Gen, Gold Music Alliance, and now Academy Proud. We also have an MRG for the Latin community, for Indigenous people and for disability and accessibility.
For our readers, can you explain how a member resource group works for the Academy’s membership? What is it that an MRG provides directly to members?
On its highest level, it’s driving representation. This is a way for us to really establish a baseline of how many of our members identify as LGBTQ+, and then [that] helps us figure out what we can do to support that membership, to increase representation in that membership. I feel like inclusion and diversity are often action items — it’s very easy to invite people and include them — but you first really need to create a sense of belonging. So, what the membership resource groups do is create a sense of belonging, and give someone who is maybe Grammy-curious, and who may have joined us at a Grammy House event, to know and understand that the Recording Academy can be their home.
Dr. David Jones and Ryan Butler on Feb. 3, 2024 in Los Angeles.
Unique Nicole/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
So what specific initiatives do you see Academy Proud taking on in the coming months or years to actively court a more diverse LGBTQ+ membership base?
Well, I think the visibility of what we did this Grammys Week is going to be amazing for those who may be outside of the Academy wanting to be a part of it, or determining if they’re going to be able to become members. The visibility of having an official Grammy Week activation is huge — but I really want to make sure that we understand what support looks like for the queer community. It’s going to be different for every community. I identify as a Black, gay man; I know that we often talk about intersectionality, but for me, it’s also about indivisibility. I’m always Black, and I’m always gay, and I don’t really live my life in sections. It’s great for us to have that dialogue and to understand how the queer community feels within the music community, and what we as the Academy can do to support the community year round. So if it’s panels, discussions, surveys, gatherings, I want it to be interest-led by the community itself.
We could make a beautiful deck and say “this is what we’re going to do,” but that may not be what the community needs. It’s really important for us to be listening, and to really have a deep understanding of what support looks like. What is stopping you from joining the Recording Academy, and if you have joined, what’s stopping you from being an active member? What barriers do you see to becoming an elected leader? That’s really how we change — it’s about representation on our board of trustees, in our elected positions, as presidents of our chapters.
I know you’re still in the early stages of the initiative here, but in those early stages, has there been any particular feedback that provided a solid baseline of where to start?
I think the recognition is where we really needed to start. In the queer community, we understand that we are the innovators, we understand that we are on the front end of helping to curate and cultivate what’s happening across the culture. I think the first step was the Recording Academy recognizing that, and recognizing the contribution and the impact that the queer community has on music and other cultural areas; music, fashion, film, etc. For us to actually recognize that, I don’t think there’s many organizations that are really standing on the fact that, but for the contributions of the queer community, we would not be where we are today.
The launch of the initiative happened in tandem with this year’s ceremony, which saw a lot of historic wins for the LGBTQ+ community — alongside having a wide range of LGBTQ nominees, three of the Big Four winners were queer women. To what do you attribute this uptick in queer representation at the Grammys?
It’s really because of the hard work we’ve been doing across all of our verticals. Our philosophy is going from the inside out — we’re just now starting to see the “out” part, but the work has been in progress for years. You really have to build a place where someone feels like they belong. Yes, we could have launched Academy Proud two years ago, but we wanted to make sure the LGBTQ community felt like they belonged at the Academy. From here, we just keep moving forward and increasing the representation on our national board and in our programming, and making sure that representation is not just isolated to the month of June.
With those bigger strides, there are also areas where representation is still coming up short — there has been a noticeable lack of trans and non-binary nominees over the last few years, even as the number of LGBTQ+ nominees grew year-over-year.
We can never celebrate too early, and there’s plenty of work still to be done, but I feel like we are in a much better position now. When DE&I is being attacked in so many spaces, I am proud and honored to know that the Recording Academy stands firm in supporting it, and it’s still a part of our values, and we understand how much better we are when we have the contributions of everyone.
That’s especially true as the political right continues to push anti-LGBTQ bills and laws, including laws that aim to restrict performers’ rights to free speech and expression. How do you look at combatting those restrictions from the perspective of providing DE&I resources for the Academy’s membership?
It’s about creators, and it’s about being there 365 days a year. We’re known for Music’s Biggest Night and the awards show that we do, but we’re working through the rest of the year, not just on Grammys night. Whether it’s our advocacy and public policy team in Washington, D.C. or our DEI team, the Academy is here protecting and advocating on behalf of all creators. Whenever there is a creator in a space facing a barrier, it is our job to make sure that we eliminate that barrier, and allow that creator to be their full self.
I want to go back to talking about the trans community, though, because they are the ones being most directly affected by that legislation. With this lack of trans visibility in the music industry at large, including at the Grammys, how does this initiative specifically aim to uplift the voices not only of trans and non-binary artists, but trans and non-binary workers throughout the industry?
That work is not just isolated to Academy Proud — it’s also part of Women in the Mix, where we made a very conscious decision to not use terms like “women-identifying.” We’re here for all women — if you are a woman, you are a woman. We released our Women in the Mix study, and it was the first study that surveyed gender-diverse people in the industry. Now, we do have a baseline for that, and recommendations surrounding that. It really is about that crossover and overlap between our membership resource groups. We are absolutely dedicated to uplifting the trans community, through both Academy Proud and Women in the Mix.
As Billboard publishes its 136th volume throughout 2024, stay in the know on the magazine’s print schedule for the year, along with each issue’s corresponding theme. This is an updating post, so be sure to check back for any changes.
Issue Date: Jan. 27, 2024Theme: The Billboard Power 100
Issue Date: Feb. 10, 2024Theme: Sports
Issue Date: March 2, 2024Theme: Women in Music
Issue Date: March 9, 2024Theme: SXSW
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Issue Date: March 30, 2024Theme: Environment*This issue will include Top Music Lawyers
Issue Date: April 20, 2024*This issue will include International Power Players
Issue Date: May 11, 2024Theme: Country Power Players
Issue Date: June 1, 2024Theme: Branding*This issue will include 40 Under 40
Issue Date: June 8, 2024Theme: Indie*This issue will include Indie Power Players
Issue Date: June 22, 2024Theme: Pride/Black Music Month
Issue Date: July 13, 2024Theme: Jazz
Issue Date: Aug. 3, 2024Theme: R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players
Issue Date: Aug. 24, 2024Theme: Fall Music Preview
Issue Date: Sept. 21, 2024Theme: Latin Music Week
Issue Date: Oct. 5, 2024 (Double Issue)Theme: Grammy Preview/Producers
Issue Date: Oct. 26, 2024Theme: Touring*This issue will include Top Music Business Schools
Issue Date: Nov. 16, 2024Theme: BBMAs*This issue will include Top Music Business Managers
Issue Date: Dec. 7, 2024Theme: No. 1’s and Year in Music
Issue Date: Dec. 14, 2024Theme: Grammy Voter Guide
Former record executive Drew Dixon, who previously accused Russell Simmons of rape, is now suing the Def Jam Recordings founder over allegations that he defamed her by suggesting during a December interview that she was lying about the incident.
In a lawsuit filed Thursday (Feb. 15) in Manhattan federal court, Dixon’s attorneys claim Simmons “subjected Ms. Dixon to public ridicule, contempt, and disgrace” by “calling her a liar.” During the interview, Simmons did not reference Dixon by name, but her lawyers say the message was clear.
“Mr. Simmons’s false statements were broadcast around the world and were reasonably understood by those who heard them to be specific factual claims by Mr. Simmons that he had not sexually abused Ms. Dixon and that Ms. Dixon was a liar who was seeking fame,” her attorneys wrote.
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The lawsuit claims that Simmons’ statements were designed “to cause the world to disbelieve Ms. Dixon” and to “destroy Ms. Dixon’s efforts to use her experience to help others suffering as victims of sexual abuse and harassment.”
Simmons did not immediately return a request for comment on the lawsuit’s allegations.
Dixon, a former A&R at Def Jam, was one of three women who accused Simmons of rape in a blockbuster 2017 article by the New York Times. Her allegations were also at the center of On the Record, a 2020 documentary film that featured interviews with numerous other women who have made other abuse accusations against Simmons.
Similar harassment and assault claims against Simmons by other women have also been reported by the Los Angeles Times and the Hollywood Reporter; a report by People says that a total of 19 different women have made allegations against him. Just last week, Simmons was hit with new accusations in a federal lawsuit that claims he raped a former Def Jam video producer in the 1990s.
At issue in Friday’s lawsuit are statements made by Simmons during an interview on a Dec. 6 episode of In Depth with Graham Besinger, titled “Russell Simmons breaks silence on allegations.”
On the podcast, Simmons said he was facing allegations from “six people” after he slept with “thousands” of women over the course of his life. He said that “people can have a recollection from 30 or 40 years ago, and it can be different from my recollection.”
“Could someone leave and feel hurt? Could someone leave and feel that they wish they hadn’t? Could some re-imagine a story out of thousands of people? Could someone want notoriety in a market where people thirst for fame?” Simmons asked, before later adding: “I’ve never been forceful in any of my relationships. All of what I’ve had has been consensual.”
Dixon’s name is never mentioned during the interview. But statements can still be defamatory without explicitly naming the alleged target, so long as a person is “reasonably identifiable” from what is said.
In her complaint, her lawyers say the “six people” Simmons mentioned “necessarily includes Ms. Dixon,” and thus his statements “have the effect” of accusing her of lying in her allegations: “Mr. Simmons’s false statements directly and indirectly indicate that Ms. Dixon lied about being sexually abused and harassed by Mr. Simmons.”
The case against Simmons is not the first time Dixon has taken a powerful music industry figure to court.
While she hasn’t previously filed a lawsuit against Simmons over her public abuse accusations, she did file such a case in November against Antonio “L.A.” Reid, a longtime music industry executive with stints at Epic Records, Island Def Jam and Arista Records. In that case, Dixon says Reid assaulted her twice during the mid-2000s and then blackballed her after she rebuffed further advances.
That case remains pending.
Gloria Trevi — arguably one of the most successful Mexican pop acts of all time — has weathered trials and tribulations throughout a long career, but she’s now facing a legal battle over renewed allegations of serious sexual wrongdoing.
The dispute resurfaced in December 2022, when two unnamed Jane Does filed a lawsuit alleging that Trevi and Sergio Andrade, her ex-producer and manager, had “groomed” and “exploited” them when they were between the ages of 13 and 15. The lawsuit also named backup singer María Raquenel Portillo, also known as Mary Boquitas, over her alleged involvement in the abuse.
Trevi has for many years categorically denied such claims. In a statement released after the December 2022 lawsuit was filed, she wrote: “These false accusations, which were first made against me 25 years ago, have been tried in various courts and, in all instances, I have been completely and totally acquitted. For these old, disproven claims to resurface now is tremendously painful for me and for all my family. The accusations were false when they were made and remain false today.”
The story dates back decades. Trevi, Andrade and Portillo were arrested in 2000 in Rio de Janeiro — where they had fled to avoid prosecution — for allegedly luring young girls into a cult-like pornographic ring where they were kidnapped, raped and corrupted. All three were eventually extradited to Mexico, where Trevi was acquitted in 2004 on charges of rape, kidnapping and corruption of minors.
“Many people don’t understand that I wasn’t detained for a crime. I was part of a process,” Trevi told Billboard in 2014. “I was exploited by those who I was working with. All I did was [to] be loving, faithful and loyal. God picked me up. He protected me. He took me out. I was cleared. I was released. I’ve never committed a crime.”
Trevi scored her first big hit in 1990 with the anthemic “Dr. Psiquiatra,” becoming the first Latin female rockstar with her signature untamed hair, ripped tights and leather vests. Since, Trevi has established a 40-year career of hitmaking and touring success. To date, she has four No. 1s on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart and has entered Hot Latin Songs a total of 12 times, including three top 10s with “Con Los Ojos Cerrados” and “Me Siento Tan Sola” from the ’90s and “Cinco Minutos” from 2008.
In August, Trevi released the bio-series Ellas Soy Yo, which chronicles her rise to stardom as an adolescent to become Mexico’s biggest pop star, her involvement in the Trevi-Andrade sex scandal, her time in prison and her return to the stage after being found not guilty. Trevi is currently on her Live Nation-produced Soundtrack Tour visiting over 30 cities across the United States, including L.A., New York, Chicago and Miami.
Facing the new civil lawsuits over the Andrade sex abuse claims, Trevi filed her own counter-lawsuit in December. She claimed that it was Andrade who was the “true predator” that had subjected Trevi and other girls to “total control and sadistic abuse,” and that her Jane Doe accusers had actually been “enlisted to perpetuate his abuse.”
Billboard reached out to Trevi’s team for additional comment on the accusations but had not heard back at press time.
To get caught up on the full story, here’s a timeline of the messy legal saga, from the filing of the cases to where things stand today.
Two Jane Does Sue Gloria Trevi
Universal Music Publishing Group has signed hitmaker and Semisonic frontman Dan Wilson to an exclusive global publishing agreement. According to the terms of the deal, UMPG will represent Wilson’s future works. “I consider it a true gift to work alongside a person who is so storied and accomplished, and yet so open to new experiences and collaborations,” said Jennifer Knoepfle, UMPG’s evp and co-head of A&R.
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Ultra Publishing has signed a deal extension with Wheezy, who first signed to the company in 2018. The new extension will also see Ultra acquiring an additional 427 songs from Wheezy, including titles released by Drake, Travis Scott Meek Mill and Lil Uzi Vert.
Kobalt has signed Latin Grammy-nominated producer and songwriter JULiA LEWiS to a global publishing administration deal. A go-to collaborator for Bad Bunny, Anitta, Rauw Alejandro, NBA YoungBoy, Feid and more, JULiA LEWiS is a certified hitmaker with top tracks like “La Jumpa,” “Classy 101” and “Kacey Talk” as part of his fast-growing catalog. He is managed by Matt Geffen, Jamil Davis and Matt Bauerschmidt of The Revels Group.
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Warner Chappell Music France has signed an administrative publishing deal with Lofi Records, the company behind the famous YouTube “Lofi Girl.” The channel provides a 24/7 feed of chill beats to relax or study to and it boasts more than 13.6 million subscribers, with 30,000-60,000 simultaneous listeners on any given day.
Avex USA has signed Jahnei “Mr. Jah” Clarke to its publishing division. A Queens-raised, Los Angeles-based hip-hop, R&B, Latin and pop producer, he is best known for his work with Luísa Sonza, 6ix9ine, Masego.
Rimas Publishing has expanded its roster, signing seven new talents. The new signees include Andrea Cruz, Elia, Harold Wendell Sanders, Manu Berlingeri, Mendoza, Nes, and Valentina.
Warner Chappell Production Music launches Run4Cover in partnership with Warner Chappell Music. Run4Cover is a new label designed to cover some of WCM‘s biggest songs in a way that might be useful for sync licensing purposes. Already their repertoire includes new renditions of hits like Radiohead (“Exit Music (For A Film),” “Karma Police”), Curtis Mayfield (“Move On Up”), Kool & The Gang (“Celebration”) and Donna Summer (“Hot Stuff”). These covers come in a wide array of styles, from string quartets to big band to trailerizations.
Concord Music Publishing has signed songwriting team Chris Miller and Nathan Tysen to a global publishing administration deal. This includes their full catalog and future works. Two of Broadway’s biggest composers today, the duo has written the music for Tuck Everlasting, The Burnt Part Boys, Blown Sideways Through Life, Revival and more together. Independently, Miller has worked on Swept Away, April Twilights, and Ravello. Tysen has worked on The Great Gatsby, Amelie, Paradise Square.
Major Bob Music has signed rising songwriter SJ McDonald to a global publishing deal. “She keeps it country and she’s a perfect fit for Major Bob,” says Andy Friday, head of publishing. Along with the announcement of her signing, McDonald also released a new single: “Hummingbird.”
Prescription Songs and Day One Songs has signed Joseph Tilley to a global publishing agreement. An artist, producer and songwriter, Tilley makes pop and R&B music. Along with his artist project, he also produces for indie pop songstress Emilee, contributing to songs like “Heaven” and “I Love You Baby.”
Sony Music Publishing and Relative Music Group have signed rising country artist Carson Wallace to a global publishing deal. Only 20, the songwriter has built an audience on TikTok, and now has achieved success with the release of singles like “Lonely Look Like,” “Leavin’ Season,” “Ghost In My Chevy” and “Light of Day.”