Publishing
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Big Machine Music has promoted Mike Molinar to president of the publishing company, effective immediately. Molinar will continue to report to Big Machine Label Group chairman and CEO Scott Borchetta.
BMM, a division of HYBE America, also announced the advancement of Alex Heddle to senior vp of publishing and Grayson Stephens to vice president, overseeing royalties and finance.
“I’m so proud to announce that Mike Molinar has been appointed President of Big Machine Music. His leadership, vision, artist relations and song sense are unmatched,” Borchetta said in a press release. “We are also acknowledging the outstanding work and accomplishments of BMM’s Alex Heddle and Grayson Stephens as they continue to power the Machine to new heights.”
Molinar has nearly three decades of experience as a music publisher and advocate for creatives. He has led Big Machine Music since its inception in 2011, overseeing the company’s ongoing growth of a diverse roster and dynamic catalog of over 14,000 songs (including the RIAA Diamond-certified “Beautiful Crazy” (recorded by Luke Combs), “In Case You Didn’t Know (Brett Young) and “Speechless” (Dan+Shay), while also leading the company’s impact beyond its Nashville base with the addition of a West Coast division based in Los Angeles. Molinar has been named a Billboard Country Power Player for four consecutive years, and was selected for the Nashville Cohort of the Harvard Young American Leaders Program in 2021. Molinar currently serves as a board member on the National Music Publishers Association, Mechanical Licensing Collective designated by the U.S. Copyright Office, Music Health Alliance, Academy of Country Music and Country Music Hall of Fame Education Council.
Heddle recently celebrated a decade at BMM and represents songwriters Jessie Jo Dillon, Ryan Hurd, Matt Dragstrem, Geoff Warburton and Sara Davis, who recently earned her first Grammy Award nomination with “abcdefu” (GAYLE) for song of the year. A graduate of Leadership Music’s class of 2022, Heddle currently serves on the AIMP Nashville board and as a Music Row Ambassador for St. Jude Children’s Hospital. The Belmont University alum’s career includes time at Love Monkey Music, Writer’s Den Music, Propoel Music Publishing and Ash Street Music.
A graduate of Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business, Stephens brings nearly 14 years of publishing administration experience to the vice president role, having previously held positions at Sony Music Publishing prior to joining Big Machine Music in 2017.
“I’m honored by Scott Borchetta’s continued faith and partnership. Big Machine Music is my home; our incredible team and world-class songwriters are my family. I’m proud to continue our journey together,” Molinar added in a press release. “In that spirit, I can’t understate how important Alex Heddle and Grayson Stephens have been through these past several years of transition and growth. I’m so happy to see their efforts recognized with such well-deserved promotions.”
BMM’s current roster includes Billboard’s 2022 Songwriter of the Year Laura Veltz, Brett Young, Ryan Hurd, Jessie Jo Dillon, Matt Dragstrem, Geoff Warburton, Sara Davis, Eric Paslay, Justin Moore, Maddie & Tae, Anna Vaus, Matt Roy, Mike Eli, Daniel Ross, Callista Clark, Tyler Rich, Laci Kaye Booth, Troy Cartwright, Ayron Jones, Dalton Mauldin and Teddy Reimer. Catalog writers include Luke Combs, Brandy Clark, Jonathan Singleton and Josh Thompson.
Primary Wave has purchased a stake in the publishing catalog of Kool & The Gang founding band member and drummer George Brown, the company announced Wednesday (June 28). The sale also includes a stake in the Grammy winner’s writer’s share of his music publishing and the writer’s share of his public performance income.
The deal — which includes classics like “Ladies Night,” “Celebration,” “Get Down on It,” “Cherish,” “Jungle Boogie,” “Summer Madness” and more — is in the multi-million dollar range, according to Primary Wave.
In addition to Brown, Kool & The Gang is comprised of Robert “Kool” Bell, Ronald Bell, Dennis “Dee Tee” Thomas, Robert “Spike” Mickens, Charles Smith, Woodrow “Woody” Sparrow and Ricky West. The Jersey City troupe first got its start on indie label De-Lite Records, which released the band’s debut album, Kool and the Gang, in 1969. The group broke through in 1973 with its fourth album, Wild and Peaceful, which contained hits like “Jungle Boogie” and “Hollywood Swinging.” Pulling from funk, soul, R&B, disco and jazz influences, Kool & The Gang’s work also played a defining role in the soundtracks for Rocky (1976) and Saturday Night Fever (1977).
For its impressive body of work, Kool & the Gang has received two Grammy awards, seven American Music Awards and was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame. The group also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, while Brown — along with bandmates Taylor and Robert and Ronald Bell — was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2018.
“I am very pleased to call Primary Wave my music partner and to join with dozens of other iconic artists and creatives in an incredible business family,” said Brown of the deal. “I look forward to collaborating with Larry Mestel and the entire Primary Wave team to further enhance my catalog and the Kool & The Gang brand.”
Kendall A. Minter, Brown’s legal counsel, added, “As counsel to George Brown and Astana Music, it was my pleasure to initiate, negotiate and close this deal with Primary Wave. The alignment of a globally iconic artist and creative talent with an iconic, global independent music publisher and brand enhancer is a win-win for the entire music community and fans.”
“Kool and the Gang’s influence on generations of musicians and fans around the globe cannot be denied,” said Primary Wave senior vp of business and legal affairs Samantha Rhulen. “A few of us from Primary Wave were excited to have been in the audience when they were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2018, and we are so thrilled to now be partnering with George Brown in 2023.”
Runner Music, the publishing and music company formed by Ryan Tedder, artist manager Ron Laffitte and publishing executive Andrew Sparkler, has hired former Sony Music Publishing executive Amanda Hill as president of A&R/and co-chief creative officer.
Hill is the company’s first major hire since launching in January. In her Los Angeles-based role, Hill will be responsible for leading Runner’s global creative strategy, including writer and artist signings, company development and building out the Runner team.
“I am so excited to be starting this new chapter with Runner Music and to partner with Ryan, Ron, and Andrew, each of whom I’ve respected and admired for many years,” she said in a statement to Billboard. “I’m thrilled to be building this company from the ground up alongside them, and together with our songwriters we will create the future of music publishing.”
More recently, Hill served as senior VP of A&R at Sony Music Publishing, where she worked with major songwriters and artists including Tedder, Greg Kurstin, Miley Cyrus and Johnny McDaid. She consulted for Columbia Records from 2013 to 2019 and has managed Sarah Aarons since 2016.
“In almost 20 years of working with publishing A&Rs across all the major and indie companies, I’ve never had a more effective dialog and workflow with anyone than Amanda,” said Tedder, who serves as co-chief creative officer with Hill. “Her genuine passion for songs, writers and the creative process is as good as it gets and her 17-plus years of experience in all facets of music publishing are invaluable to myself and the Runner team. Speaking on behalf of our writers, artists and myself, we are beyond ecstatic to have her join the Runner family.”
Earlier this month, Runner and Sony Music Nashville partnered to sign 19-year old multi-instrumentalist David J. “David is a true unicorn talent and I’m thrilled that Runner can partner with Sony to help bring his music to the world,” said Tedder at the time of the announcement. “I’m also pleased to announce that Brandon Silverstein is working with Runner as a strategic and creative partner for this project.” David J has earned 75 million career on-demand streams through his independent releases, including “Lost My Heartbreak,” “Before You,” and “Stay,” according to Sony.
Blackstone Group’s Melody Holdings is an equity partner in Runner Music.
Reps. Ted W. Lieu (D-CA) and Ben Cline (R-VA) have joined together to re-launch and co-chair the bipartisan Congressional Songwriters Caucus to focus on advancing policies that support independent songwriters and strengthen copyright protections.
The new caucus has support from the Recording Academy, Nashville Songwriters Association International, BMI, ASCAP and the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), according to a press release. No specific names of independent songwriters were included in the release, and a representative for Lieu has not responded to Billboard’s requests for more information.
The caucus was originally formed in 2003 by Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) when she served as a House representative for Tennessee. According to her website, part of her focus at the time was cracking down on China’s intellectual property theft and how that affected songwriters and other creatives.
The interests of musicians is also represented in Congress with the Recording Arts and Sciences Congressional Caucus, which was established in 2005 and continues today, helmed by Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and new Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY).
Hailing from Southern California, Rep. Lieu says he understands first hand how “talented songwriters… contribute to so much of our culture and society. I’m thrilled to join Congressman Cline in co-chairing the new bipartisan Congressional Songwriter’s Caucus, which will work to support America’s brilliant songwriters by ensuring they can protect their work and make a living doing what they love. Music contributes so much to our way of life, and we must ensure those creating it are compensated fairly. I’m grateful to the numerous songwriter advocacy organizations who’ve partnered with us on the creation of this caucus and look forward to working together to support our artists.”
“Making art, specifically music, is a powerful way to leave a mark on the world,” says Rep. Cline. “It’s a part of our everyday lives, from what we listen to on our commutes in the morning, to the music we select for our most important life events, such as birthdays, weddings, and funerals. But today’s modern music landscape can make it more difficult for certain artists, especially independent songwriters, to make a living. That is why I’m proud to co-chair the Congressional Songwriters Caucus, which will play an important role in promoting the songwriting community by working to ensure the creative rights of songwriters are protected.”
“It All Begins With A Song,” says Bart Herbison, executive director of NSAI. “the entire music ecosystem. Since the Songwriters Caucus was initially launched 20 years ago, technology has completely changed the way music is delivered. American songwriters still face challenges in the digital era and we are very grateful to Congressmen Cline and Lieu for their bipartisan support.”
“On behalf of our over one million affiliates, I’d like to thank Representatives Cline and Lieu for co-chairing the Congressional Songwriters Caucus. Both have always been champions for creators, and we are in excellent hands with them leading the charge for songwriters and composers on the Hill. We stand ready to work with them to ensure creators are supported by strong copyright law and that they are fairly compensated for their work,” adds Mike O’Neill, president and CEO of BMI.
“Songwriters are the foundation of America’s vibrant music industry, and we appreciate Representatives Cline and Lieu recognizing the importance of ensuring we have champions in Congress. As technology transforms the music landscape, ASCAP looks forward to engaging with members of the Congressional Songwriters’ Caucus to protect the rights of American music creators and defend the value of their hard work and creativity,” says Paul Williams, president of ASCAP.
“We applaud Representatives Cline and Lieu for leading the Congressional Songwriters Caucus and we are excited about today’s launch. NMPA is the leading advocate for music publishers and their songwriter partners and we greatly look forward to working with the Caucus to advance policy interests that will protect creators and ensure that songwriters thrive,” says NMPA president and CEO David Israelite.
“The Recording Academy is proud to support the re-launch of the Congressional Songwriters Caucus which helps connect songwriters and composers with lawmakers to ensure that their unique interests are heard and understood. We are grateful to the new Caucus Co-Chairs, Representatives Ben Cline and Ted Lieu, for their support and leadership and we look forward to working with stakeholders across the songwriter community to advance the Caucus forward,” says Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr.
Kobalt has signed Grammy nominated producer and songwriter OZ to a global administrative publishing deal. Ozan Yildirim, a.k.a. OZ, is known for his work on Drake’s “Toosie Slide,” Travis Scott’s “Sicko Mode” and “Highest in the Room,” and Future’s “Life Is Good.”
Electric Feel Entertainment has signed Projexx to a publishing deal. The Jamaica-born, Miami-based singer, songwriter, and producer has already helped write a number of songs for global stars, including Wizkid and Konshens and emerging talents like Jesse Royal, Ruger, Juls, Bakersteez, and more.
Sony Music Publishing Nashville has signed Seth Mosley to a global publishing deal. Most recently, the country and Christian hitmaker co-wrote Gabby Barrett’s “Glory Days.” Other cuts of Mosley’s include Colton Dixon’s “Build a Boat,” King and Country’s “Fix My Eyes” and “Joy.”
Warner Music Spain and Warner Chappell Music Spain have jointly hosted a summer songwriting camp at The Music Station in Madrid, starting June 15. The camp was created to bring together some of Spain and Latin America’s most promising artists and songwriters to write together and perform at The Music Station’s live venue.
Position Music and Poems (a partnership between The Monsters & Strangerz and Mega House Music) have announced their signing of songwriter, producer and artist Jack LaFrantz to a global publishing deal. To date, LaFrantz has written songs like “Hero” by JVKE and Martin Garrix, “Love Like That” by Suriel Hess, “Castle in the Sky” by eaJ and “Sugar Sweet” and “Before You” by Benson Boone.
Superior Music Company has signed New York based songwriter Amy Douglas to a worldwide publishing administration deal. Known best for her work in dance music, Douglas has written songs with artists like Horse Meat Disco, Juan MacLean, Luke Solomon, Soul Clap, Low Steppa, Roison Murphy, and more. Douglas also has her own artist project which boasts the house music hit “Never Saw It Coming.”
Bucks Music Group and Mushroom Music have signed Joshua Epithet to a global publishing deal under their joint venture. A singer/songwriter, Epithet also releases his recorded music under Mushroom Labels worldwide.
BMI’s recent rate court victory substantially increasing songwriters and publishers’ royalties for live events will be appealed, according to a notice filed by the North American Concert Promoters Association on Wednesday (June 21).
In May, Southern District of New York Judge Louis Stanton awarded the performance rights organization a 138% increase in rate to 0.5% of the event’s “revenue” with an expanded definition of the term to include tickets sold directly onto the secondary market, servicing fees received by the promoters and revenues from box suites and VIP packages. That 0.5% was up from what BMI said was a blended rate of 0.21%, based on 0.3% interim rate for venues that held less than 10,000 seats; and the interim 0.15% for venues that held more than 10,000 during the period of 2018-2022.
At that time, Stanton also set rates for the retroactive period of 2013-2017, with the previously used, less expansive “revenue” definition that only reflected earnings directly from the face value of primary market ticket sales. Those rates ranged from .08% of revenue for venues of up to 2,500 seats to 0.15% for venues with 10,000 or more seats.
On Tuesday, however, lawyers for the concert trade group filed a notice with the Southern District of intent to appeal that decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, according to the filing submitted by Weil, Gotshal & Manges, the law firm representing the concert promoters. The notice to appeal could mean that the group will appeal; or it could be a procedural move that keeps open the option to appeal. The concert trade group had 30 days to file the appeal notice from the last day in court— a few weeks back on a BMI motion regarding interest on whatever fees might be owed from the 2018-2022 term covered by the newly set rates for that period.
In a statement BMI said the concert industry has long fought against rate increases for songwriters.
“Given Live Nation, AEG and [the North American Concert Promoters Association’s] bizarre position throughout trial that concertgoers attend concerts for the experience of the staging, videos and light shows, as opposed to the actual songs and music being performed, their appeal was not a surprise to BMI,” BMI president and CEO Mike O’Neill said in a statement. “For decades, the live concert industry has fought to keep rates suppressed. And even now, when they are making more money than ever, in more ways than ever, they are determined to deny songwriters and composers the fair value of their work, despite the fact that without their contributions, a concert wouldn’t even be possible. BMI will continue to fight on behalf of our affiliates, the creators of the music that is the very backbone of the live concert industry, to prevent that outcome.”
The concert promoters did not. respond to a request for comment at time of publishing. In May, an AEG spokesperson said “AEG Presents and NACPA were defending performing artists, who bear the costs of BMI fees, in this litigation.” Concert promoters have long billed the performing artist for performance rights organizations’ royalty fees.
Two years after the pandemic and its temporary shutdown of concerts and many stores and restaurants devastated the collective management organizations that license public performance royalties for songwriters and publishers, some of those CMOs are reporting record-setting financial results. In April, German society GEMA and the United Kingdom’s PRS both collected and distributed their highest amounts ever. And on June 21, French collective management society SACEM announced that it had collected €1.41 billion ($1.54 billion) in 2022, 34% more than in 2021, and distributed €1.06 billion ($1.15 billion) — a 19% increase over the previous year. Both numbers represent new highs — both for SACEM and at least for European societies.
“Thanks to the resumption of concerts, the explosion of digital, the new agreements signed with the many users of SACEM’s repertoire, and the strategic shift undertaken in its transformation plan, SACEM had a record year in terms of both collections and royalties distributed,” said CEO Céclile Rap-Veber in the organization’s announcement. “These results demonstrate, once again, our ability to adapt and strengthen our expertise in a highly competitive and rapidly changing sector.”
For SACEM, as for all CMOs, some of the increase in revenue and distributions comes from the return of live concerts, which are a significant source of royalty revenue. But the success also reflects the growth of streaming, as well as the ability of CMOs to negotiate better prices for the compositions they license. It’s also important to note that SACEM’s results will not just affect French composers and publishers: CMOs now compete to represent the rightsholders for online use in most countries, excluding the U.S., and SACEM licenses the work of composers around the world, as well as the repertoire of Universal Music Publishing Group
SACEM, the oldest music collecting society, is setting the pace for its rivals. Its collections of €1.41 billion ($1.54 billion) are higher than those of GEMA, which in 2022 took in 1.18 billion euros ($1.25 billion), and PRS, which had revenue of 836.2 million pounds ($1.04 billion).
Direct comparisons are inexact, however, since all of the CMOs use different accounting procedures. (The two biggest U.S. CMOs, ASCAP and BMI, are also constrained in their negotiations by antitrust consent decrees.) SACEM, for example, counts money it collected and distributed in 2022, but since it takes some time to distribute funds, the money it pays out trails slightly. This implies that distributions will rise in the first part of next year. “In 2023, taking into account collections in the second half of 2022 and the first half of 2023, we expect to reach a new distribution record,” SACEM said in its announcement.
SACEM also lowered its expenses. Its ratio of operating expenses to collections was a low of 11.65%, down 3.15 points from 2021. As competition among CMOs heats up — especially between SACEM and the ICE hub run by GEMA, PRS and the Swedish society STIM — all of the societies are trying to cut costs.
In 2022, for the second year in a row, online was the biggest source of royalties — up 38% to €493 million ($538.27 million). The second largest category of revenue was television and radio, which accounted for €353.1 million ($385.56 million), up 19%. General royalties contributed €327 million ($357.06) — up 93% partly due to the return of the live music business.
The financial results only include SACEM’s core operations of collecting public performance and mechanical royalties for composers and music publishers, both in France and for online uses in most countries around the world. They do not include SACEM’s neighboring rights revenue from television and radio play of sound recordings, or the subsidiaries like the one it operates to license the neighboring rights of newspapers and periodicals when their works are used by online companies like Google and Facebook.
Niall Horan has signed a new worldwide publishing agreement with Universal Music Publishing Group. Already a signee of Capitol Records, his new deal with UMPG sees the artist uniting both recorded and songwriting efforts under the Universal Music umbrella. Previously, he was signed to an administrative agreement with Downtown Music Publishing, beginning in 2017. The […]
Luke Combs has driven his “Fast Car” to the top five of the Billboard Hot 100 – and Tracy Chapman is riding shotgun.
The surprise success of Combs’ cover has been a minor windfall for Chapman, the sole songwriter of the 1988 hit from her breakthrough debut album. Billboard estimates that Combs’ version has generated about $500,000 in publishing royalties globally from its March 17 debut through June 8. Chapman alone is pocketing a sizable portion of that total.
Most of the royalties have come from 154 million U.S. on-demand audio streams from services such as Spotify and Apple Music from March 17 to June 8, according to Luminate. During that period, “Fast Car” also had 6 million video streams and 28 million programmed audio streams in the United States. The track has also been purchased 86,000 times, while the album on which it appears, Combs’ Gettin’ Old, has been purchased 68,000 times in both digital and physical formats. The United States accounts for more than three quarters of the song’s global consumption — a high ratio not atypical for a country artist.
What’s more, Combs’ success with “Fast Car” has also given Chapman’s original recording a boost. Weekly consumption — measured by track sales and streaming converted into equivalent track units — increased 44% since Combs’ version was released, while average weekly radio spins improved about 11%. That’s resulted in a boost in U.S. recorded revenues of about $54,000, with $13,000 coming from publishing royalties, Billboard estimates. (Warner Music Group’s Elektra Records, not Chapman, owns the recorded music rights.) Interest in Chapman herself appears to have increased, too: U.S. Google searches for the singer almost tripled from the weeks ended March 18 to June 3, according to Google Trends.
“Fast Car,” the first single for Chapman’s eponymous debut album, has been covered by the likes of Sam Smith, Khalid, Black Pumas and English producer Jonas Blue, whose dance version reached No. 2 on The Official U.K. Singles Chart and No. 98 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2016. But in the United States, Combs’ version became the most successful to date by reaching No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 (dated June 17), surpassing Chapman’s original which reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1988, and helped her debut album reach triple platinum within a year of its release.
Combs’ “Fast Car” peaked at No. 1 on the Country Digital Song Sales chart (dated June 10) and No. 2 on the Country Streaming Songs chart (dated April 29). It also reached No. 6 on the Country Airplay chart (dated June 17) in just its eighth week on the tally and hit No. 2 on the Hot Country Songs chart (dated May 6), which combines radio airplay and streams. North of the U.S. border, “Fast Car” reached No. 2 on the Canadian Digital Song Sales chart (dated May 6), No. 5 on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100 chart (dated May 27) and No. 36 on the Canada All-Format Airplay chart (dated June 10).
Tracking the ownership of “Fast Car” is like a brief lesson in the history of major publishing dealmaking of the last four decades. Chapman signed a publishing deal with SBK Entertainment prior to signing with Elektra Records in 1987. SBK was acquired by EMI Music Publishing in 1989. Citi took control of EMI in 2011 after private equity firm Terra Firma defaulted on its debt from a 2007 acquisition. A consortium of investors led by Sony Music Entertainment acquired EMI Music Publishing in 2012. In 2018, Sony Corporation bought out the remaining 60% of EMI Music Publishing. But the rights to “Fast Car” reverted to Chapman a few years ago, according to a Sony Music Publishing spokesperson. As sole owner of the songwriting and publishing rights, Chapman can pocket all royalties generated from “Fast Car” and other songs in her catalog, less any fees paid to a third party for administration services.
“Fast Car” is a rarity in an age of sampling, interpolations and Taylor Swift’s re-recordings. Outside of holiday music, cover songs rarely appear in the top 10 of the Hot 100 singles chart. In fact, the last time a cover entered the top 10 of the Hot 100 was Anna Kendrick’s version of “Cups,” a folk song written in 1931 and recorded by Hendricks for the movie Pitch Perfect that reached No. 6 in 2013. Prior to “Cups,” two cover versions from the TV show Glee appeared in the top 10: “Don’t Stop Believin’” (originally by Journey) in 2009 and “Teenage Dream” (originally by Katy Perry) in 2010. Chapman earns some royalties when “Fast Car” is sampled or used in an interpolation – Chris Brown‘s 2017 song “Runaway,” for example — but she keeps 100% of the songwriting and publishing royalties of cover songs.