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The Songwriters of North America (SONA) Foundation has partnered with mental health provider Backline to launch a new therapy assistance project. Called TAP, the program will provide qualifying songwriters up to $1,500 in funding for therapy services. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis and reviewed weekly. Each week, the program manager will send new […]

Singer-songwriters Kenya Grace and Cian Ducrot will be honored at ASCAP London Celebrates, an invitation-only celebration of top U.K.-affiliated songwriters and composers taking place in London on June 18. Grace, a British singer-songwriter and producer, who was born in South Africa, will receive the ASCAP Global Impact Award. Grace is best known for her 2023 […]

This July, roughly six years after the debut of Hipgnosis Songs Fund (HSF) on the London Stock Exchange, the relatively short-lived experiment of publicly traded catalog funds — also known as investment trusts — will likely end. Global investment giant Blackstone is expected to win over at least three-quarters of HSF’s shareholders with its $1.58 billion offer to buy the 65,000-song catalog.
The only other listed fund, Round Hill Music Royalty Fund, was taken private in November when Concord acquired it for $468 million. But though their runs were short, these funds transformed how the investment world sees music. Hipgnosis founder Merck Mercuriadis led the charge to convince institutional investors of the stable, noncyclical nature of song rights, and they poured billions into the asset class, bid up the prices of song catalogs to unprecedented heights and fueled a frenzy for acquisitions, which meant creators got more money than ever for selling the rights to their work.

Investments in music royalties keep thriving in the private market — where the Hipgnosis and Round Hill funds continue to do business — but the money is now flowing to asset-backed securities, the same financial vehicle used to create “Bowie bonds” in the 1990s. In the past two years, Concord, Kobalt, HarbourView Equity Partners, Chord Music Partners and others have raised $3.3 billion using securitizations, and music intellectual property investors say money of that magnitude will help keep catalog prices and multiples near record-high levels.

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Despite the game-changing effect that the Hipgnosis and Round Hill funds had on the music business, they faced a number of stumbling blocks. For one, investors “misunderstood” the way that music copyright grants administrative control to the owner, Round Hill co-founder Josh Gruss says. This was borne out by the due diligence report HSF released in March, which indicated investors didn’t comprehend the rights HSF had acquired or the lack of control it had over much of its portfolio.

But interest rates may have been the death knell. When rates were low, HSF and Round Hill offered attractive returns for an acceptable level of risk, but when rates began rising, the funds’ dividends weren’t nearly as attractive. By the end of 2022, the Bank of England’s official bank rate rose to 3.5%, which put downward pressure on HSF’s share price because the risk-free rate wasn’t far from the fund’s dividend. Round Hill was similarly affected. “If you can put your money in the bank and earn 4.5%,” Gruss says, “Round Hill should not [pay investors] 4.5%.”

HSF had other problems, too, including sizable debt and the lasting pall cast by a Sept. 7, 2022, Financial Times article that described HSF’s stalled growth as interest rates rose and a subdued share price that left the fund unable to sell additional shares to fund catalog acquisitions. “If the [Financial Times] thinks it’s a problem, it’s likely going to be a problem,” says Philipp Saure of ContourMusik, a firm that specializes in private securitizations of music assets.

Had HSF been founded today, it may have put more focus on asset-backed securitizations. First deployed in the music business by David Bowie in 1997 to raise $55 million from his recorded music catalog, they allow companies that own music rights to sell debt, using music royalties as collateral.

The size of recent ABS deals dwarfs the money raised by Bowie bonds. In 2022, Concord brokered a $1.8 billion securitization, and Chord, a venture of KKR Credit Advisors and Dundee Partners, did one for $733 million. Hipgnosis Song Management, a different Hipgnosis company that advises HSF, also raised $222 million through an ABS that year. In 2024, HarbourView and Kobalt put together $500 million and $267 million ABS deals, respectively, and sources say that far more unpublicized securitizations have closed in recent years.

While both the ABS and investment trust models let investors buy into recorded music and publishing royalties, there are key differences between the two. ABS debt is purchased by institutional investors such as pension funds and insurance companies with time horizons that match the long durations of music assets. “They’re not as impatient [as retail investors],” Saure says, “so you don’t have this ‘trial in the court of public opinion’ element.”

Institutional investors’ need for a specific rate of return is an approach that works well with established music catalogs that consistently generate cash. Shares in Universal Music Group or Warner Music Group are “speculative” investments that could lose money or produce double-digit gains, says a bank source, who adds that “public investors are growth investors, not just cash flow investors” who seek a steady return. In contrast, ABS investors know exactly what to expect over a specific period.

ABS deals are complex and involve ongoing administration and generally high costs, but they can be worth the effort. “Each structure has its pros and cons, and each is better-suited to varying market conditions,” Reservoir Media CEO Golnar Khosrowshahi says. “Securitization today is attractive because it lowers [the] cost of capital in this interest rate environment.”

Concord CFO Kent Hoskins says he prefers the flexibility of securitizations over traditional debt: “We’ve very much liked the capital structure that allowed us to relatively easily draw new debt for new acquisitions.” An ABS creates a trust that manages a collection of assets that acts as collateral for investors. If Concord is within its covenants, such as a specific loan-to-value ratio — the size of a loan compared with the value of an asset purchased with the loan — he explains, the company can get more debt out of a catalog’s particular value. Term loans are more restrictive, he adds, and give the borrower a lower loan-to-value ratio. Concord did an ABS deal in 2022 with what Hoskins calls a “relatively low” loan-to-value ratio in the “low 40s” compared with ABS deals that he says have gone as high as 65%. That buffer allowed the music company to do another issuance in 2023 for $500 million, which funded its $468 million acquisition of the Round Hill Music Royalty Fund in November.

Music may be a recession-proof, stable commodity, but well-diversified ABS deals aren’t without their risks. One source points to artificial intelligence as a factor that could jeopardize stable cash flows if it causes a major economic shift like pirated music did in the early 2000s.

In general, though, institutional investors see music as a safe asset class over time. “There has been strong demand for every music ABS deal we have done,” the same source says. “As some of the retail money is walking away,” Saure adds, “institutions are becoming more confident.”

Taylor Swift took pop songwriter of the year at the 2024 BMI Pop Awards, which were held at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. on Tuesday (June 4).
Swift had a hand in writing 10 of BMI’s most-performed songs of 2023 – “Anti-Hero,” “Bejeweled,” “Cruel Summer,” “Karma,” “Lavender Haze,” “Maroon,” “Midnight Rain,” “Snow on the Beach,” “Vigilante Shit” and “You’re on Your Own, Kid.” Swift has received a total of 65 BMI Awards, including the BMI President’s Award in 2009.

On Nov. 10, 2023, Swift received her seventh Grammy nomination for song of the year for “Anti-Hero,” which enabled her to set a new record for the most nods in the category.

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Miley Cyrus, Gregory ‘Aldae’ Hein and Michael Pollack won the BMI Pop Award for song of the year for Cyrus’ megahit, “Flowers.” The smash entered the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 1 and remained there for eight nonconsecutive weeks. It won Grammys for record of the year and best pop solo performance on Feb. 4 (and was nominated for song of the year).

Sony Music Publishing received publisher of the year for the seventh year in a row. The company represented 34 of the previous year’s most performed songs, including “Anti-Hero,” “Barbie World,” “Eyes Closed,” “Flowers,” “Trustfall” and “Unholy.”

As previously announced, Benny Blanco, 36, received the BMI President’s Award. Blanco has won 55 BMI Awards, was named songwriter of the year four times, and won pop song of the year in 2013 for co-writing “Moves Like Jagger” performed by Maroon 5 featuring Christina Aguilera.

Blanco has received two Grammy nods for song of the year, for the Julia Michaels hit “Issues” and the Justin Bieber smash “Love Yourself.” Blanco has gone 0-11 at the Grammys over the years, so this BMI recognition was probably especially meaningful.

Blanco was presented with the award by BMI president and CEO Mike O’Neill, who praised the songwriter as an “unstoppable creative force who has shaped the sound of popular music.” Some of Blanco’s top collaborators, including Lil Dicky, John Janick, Blake Slatkin and Ed Sheeran, sent in video congratulatory messages. Sia then hit the stage to perform Rihanna’s 2012 hit “Diamonds,” which she co-wrote with Blanco.

On receiving the honor, Blanco said, “We have the best job in the world, and we are so thankful and lucky to be in this room. We have the opportunity to make things better through music and help people. We’re giving the soundtrack to peoples’ lives.”

Previous recipients of the BMI President’s Award include Luis Fonsi, Noel Gallagher, Ellie Goulding, Imagine Dragons, Jay Kay of Jamiroquai, Ludacris, P!nk, Willie Nelson, Pitbull, Taylor Swift, Brian Wilson, and Dwight Yoakam.

BMI celebrated 53 first-time Pop Award winners including Sabrina Carpenter (“Nonsense”), Ice Spice (“Boy’s a Liar Pt. 2”), Jelly Roll and Rob Ragosta (“Need a Favor”), Kamille (“I’m Good (Blue)”) and Stephen Sanchez (“Until I Found You”).

The private event was co-hosted by O’Neill and BMI vice president, creative, worldwide, Barbara Cane.

For the full list of 2024 honorees, visit https://www.bmi.com/award-shows/pop-2024/

Subscription gains and a string of acquisitions helped Reservoir Media’s fiscal year revenue grow 18% to $144.9 million, beating the company’s guidance from February of $140 million to $142 million, the company announced Thursday (May 30). Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) in the period ended March 31 climbed 20% to $55.6 million, topping guidance of $53 million to $55 million.
Organic growth, which strips out the impact of acquisitions made during the year, was 14% for the full year. Among the company’s catalog purchases during the fiscal year were four members of R&B group The Spinners, Latin music artist Rudy Perez, hip-hop producer Mannie Fresh and 2Pac collaborator Big D Evans. Reservoir also invested in Egyptian company RE Media and Saudi Arabian hip-hop label Mashrex. 

Among Reservoir Media’s signings during the year were songwriter Steph Carter, who shares a co-writing credit on Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso,” and Rob Ragosta, co-writer of “Need a Favor” by Jelly Roll. The company also landed publishing deals with rock band Kings of Leon and rock legend Joe Walsh. 

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The company said it expects fiscal 2025 revenue to be between $148 million and $152 million, which would reflect 3.5% growth at the midpoint. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be $58 million to $61 million, which implies 7.0% growth at the midpoint. 

“Our financial guidance reflects our confidence in growth driving organic growth with our value enhancement efforts and capitalizing on the projected growth of the music industry,” CEO Golnar Khosrowshahi said during Thursday’s earnings call. Some of that organic growth will come from additional price increases at music subscription services, she added: “Looking forward, we are poised to benefit from what we believe will become a regular cadence of price increases across streaming platforms.”

Shares of Reservoir Media jumped 15.5% to $9.00 Thursday morning before falling to $8.26, up 6.1%, by late afternoon. 

Elsewhere, full-year publishing revenue at the company rose 15% to $96.2 million. Digital revenue grew 17% to $51.6 million and performance royalties jumped 36% to $22.8 million. CFO Jim Heindlmeyer said the “improvement is largely derived from higher royalty rates and price increases at multiple music streaming services, as well as the expansion of our catalog through M&A.” 

Recorded music revenue grew 22% to $42.4 million in the full fiscal year largely due to price increases at subscription services and the timing of Reservoir Media’s release schedule, Heindlmeyer said. While physical revenue climbed 49% to $8.9 million, digital revenue rose 17% to $26.9 million and accounted for the majority of recorded music’s $7.6 million in revenue growth. 

Fiscal fourth-quarter revenue grew 12% to $39.1 million. Operating income grew just 2%, however, to $8.8 million, while adjusted EBITDA improved 6% to $16.0 million. 

Reservoir’s pipeline of potential acquisitions dropped by 50% to $1 billion, down from $2 billion at the end of December. Khosrowshahi downplayed the change, however, noting the company is seeing “ample deal flow” despite “a couple of larger deals” having moved. Liquidity at the end of the year of $132.3 million from $18.1 million of cash and $114.2 million available in a revolving credit facility “gives us the capital to fund our strategic objectives,” said Heindlmeyer. Added Khosrowshahi, “I’m generally quite optimistic about what that pipeline looks like.” 

On May 24, Sexyy Red and Drake teamed up on the track “U My Everything.” And in a surprise — Drake’s beef with Kendrick Lamar had seemingly ended — the track samples “BBL Drizzy” (originally created using AI by King Willonius, then remixed by Metro Boomin) during the Toronto rapper’s verse. 
It’s another unexpected twist for what many are calling the first-ever AI-generated hit, “BBL Drizzy.” Though Metro Boomin’s remix went viral, his version never appeared on streaming services. “U My Everything” does, making it  the first time an AI-generated sample has appeared on an official release — and posing new legal questions in the process. Most importantly: Does an artist need to clear a song with an AI-generated sample?

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“This sample is very, very novel,” says Donald Woodard, a partner at the Atlanta-based music law firm Carter Woodard. “There’s nothing like it.” Woodard became the legal representative for Willonius, the comedian and AI enthusiast who generated the original “BBL Drizzy,” after the track went viral and has been helping Willonius navigate the complicated, fast-moving business of viral music. Woodard says music publishers have already expressed interest in signing Willonius for his track, but so far, the comedian/creator is still only exploring the possibility.

Willonius told Billboard that it was “very important” to him to hire the right lawyer as his opportunities mounted. “I wanted a lawyer that understood the landscape and understood how historic this moment is,” he says. “I’ve talked to lawyers who didn’t really understand AI, but I mean, all of us are figuring it out right now.”

Working off recent guidance from the U.S. Copyright Office, Woodard says that the master recording of “BBL Drizzy” is considered “public domain,” meaning anyone can use it royalty-free and it is not protected by copyright, since Willonius created the master using AI music generator Udio. But because Willonius did write the lyrics to “BBL Drizzy,” copyright law says he should be credited and paid for the “U My Everything” sample on the publishing side. “We are focused on the human portion that we can control,” says Woodard. “You only need to clear the human side of it, which is the publishing.”

In hip-hop, it is customary to split the publishing ownership and royalties 50/50: One half is expected to go to the producer, the other is for the lyricists (who are also often the artists, too). “U My Everything” was produced by Tay Keith, Luh Ron, and Jake Fridkis, so it is likely that those three producers split that half of publishing in some fashion. The other half is what Willonius could be eligible for, along with other lyricists Drake and Sexyy Red. Woodard says the splits were solidified “post-release” on Tuesday, May 28, but declined to specify what percentage split Willonius will take home of the publishing. “I will say though,” Woodard says, cracking a smile. “He’s happy.”

Upon the release of “U My Everything,” Willonius was not listed as a songwriter on Spotify or Genius, both of which list detailed credits but can contain errors. It turns out the reason for the omission was simple: the deal wasn’t done yet. “We hammered out this deal in the 24th hour,” jokes Woodard, who adds that he was unaware that “U My Everything” sampled “BBL Drizzy” until the day of its release. “That’s just how it goes sometimes.”

It is relatively common for sample clearance negotiations to drag on long after the release of songs. Some rare cases, like Travis Scott’s epic “Sicko Mode,” which credits about 30 writers due to a myriad of samples, can take years. Willonius tells Billboard when he got the news about the “U My Everything” release, he was “about to enter a meditation retreat” in Chicago and let his lawyer “handle the business.”

This sample clearance process poses another question: should Metro Boomin be credited, too? According to Metro’s lawyer, Uwonda Carter, who is also a partner at Carter Woodard, the simple answer is no. She adds that Metro is not pursuing any ownership or royalties for “U My Everything.”

“Somehow people attach Metro to the original version of ‘BBL Drizzy,’ but he didn’t create it,” Carter says. “As long as [Drake and Sexyy Red] are only using the original version [of “BBL Drizzy”], that’s the only thing that needs to be cleared,” she continues, adding that Metro is not the type of creative “who encroaches upon work that someone else does.”

When Metro’s remix dropped on May 5, Carter says she spoke with the producer, his manager and his label, Republic Records, to discuss how they could officially release the song and capitalize on its grassroots success, but then they ultimately decided against doing a proper release. “Interestingly, the label’s position was if [Metro’s] going to exploit this song, put it up on DSPs, it’s going to need to be cleared, but nobody knew what that clearance would look like because it was obviously AI.”

She adds, “Metro decided that he wasn’t going to exploit the record because trying to clear it was going to be the Wild, Wild West.” In the end, however, the release of “U My Everything” still threw Carter Woodard into that copyright wilderness, forcing them to find a solution for their other client, Willonius.

In the future, the two lawyers predict that AI could make their producer clients’ jobs a lot easier, now that there is a precedent for getting AI-generated masters royalty-free. “It’ll be cheaper,” says Carter. “Yes, cleaner and cheaper,” says Woodard.

Carter does acknowledge that while AI sampling could help some producers with licensing woes, it could hurt others, particularly the “relatively new” phenomenon of “loop producers.” “I don’t want to minimize what they do,” she says, “but I think they have the most to be concerned about [with AI].” Carter notes that using a producer’s loops can cost 5% to 10% from the producer’s side of publishing or more. “I think that, at least in the near future, producers will start using AI sampling and AI-generated records so they could potentially bypass the loop producers.”

Songwriter-turned-publishing executive Evan Bogart previously told Billboard he feels AI could never replace “nostalgic” samples (like “First Class” by Jack Harlow’s use of “Glamorous” by Fergie or “Big Energy” by Latto’s “Fantasy” by Mariah Carey), where the old song imbues the new one with greater meaning. But he said he could foresee it being a digital alternative to crate digging for obscure samples to chop up and manipulate beyond recognition.

Though the “U My Everything” complications are over — and set a new precedent for the nascent field of AI sampling in the process — the legal complications with “BBL Drizzy” will continue for Woodard and his client. Now, they are trying to get the original song back on Spotify after it was flagged for takedown. “Some guy in Australia went in and said that he made it, not me,” says Willonius. A representative for Spotify confirms to Billboard that the takedown of “BBL Drizzy” was due to a copyright claim. “He said he made that song and put it on SoundCloud 12 years ago, and I’m like, ‘How was that possible? Nobody was even saying [BBL] 12 years ago,’” Willonius says. (Udio has previously confirmed to Billboard that its backend data shows Willonius made the song on its platform).   

“I’m in conversations with them to try to resolve the matter,” says Woodard, but “unfortunately, the process to deal with these sorts of issues is not easy. Spotify requires the parties to reach a resolution and inform Spotify once this has happened.” 

Though there is precedent for other “public domain” music being disqualified from earning royalties, so far, given how new this all is, there is no Spotify policy that would bar an AI-generated song from earning royalties. These songs are also allowed to stay up on the platform as long as the AI songs do not conflict with Spotify’s platform rules, says a representative from Spotify.

Despite the challenges “BBL Drizzy” has posed, Woodard says it’s remarkable, after 25 years in practice as a music attorney, that he is part of setting a precedent for something so new. “The law is still being developed and the guidelines are still being developed,” Woodard says. “It’s exciting that our firm is involved in the conversation, but we are learning as we go.”

This story is included in Billboard‘s new music technology newsletter, Machine Learnings. To subscribe to this and other Billboard newsletters, click here.

Nashville music publishing executive Linda Patterson “Pat” Rolfe, who became one of the first women to lead a major music publishing company in the early 1970s, died of cancer on Friday (May 24) at age 77.
Rolfe, a Waverly, Tenn., native, was born July 27, 1946. She graduated from Waverly Central High School in 1964 and moved to Nashville, launching her music industry career in 1966 at music publishing company Hill & Range. While at the company — which became a dominant music publishing player in country music in the 1950s and 1960s — she joined Lamar Fike, a member of Elvis Presley‘s entourage who worked in lighting and helped oversee Presley’s music publishing. She also worked on hit songs by Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins, Eddy Arnold and bluegrass pioneer Bill Monroe.

Rolfe was elevated to a leadership role at Hill & Range — rare for a woman executive in that era — when she was named GM at Hill & Range in 1972. She also brought Celia Froehlig into the company fold, with both staying on until Chappell Music acquired the Hill & Range companies in 1975. Froehlig would go on to hold senior roles at EMI Music Publishing and Black River Entertainment.

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Following the acquisition, Rolfe continued at Chappell Music, which was named ASCAP publisher of the year seven times during her tenure. She rose to the role of vp and held that role until 1987, when Warner Bros. Music acquired the company.

That same year, longtime ASCAP Nashville head Connie Bradley offered Rolfe a position as director of membership relations. While at the performing rights organization, Rolfe rose to the role of vp, bringing such songwriters and singer-songwriters as Dierks Bentley, Brad Paisley, Wynonna Judd, Tony Mullins, Trevor Rosen, Hillary Lindsey, Gerry House, Josh Kear, Michael Knox and Chris Tompkins into the fold. She retired in 2010.

In 1991, seeking to further elevate women in the music industry, Rolfe teamed with Judy Harris and Shelia Shipley Biddy to co-found SOURCE, a nonprofit organization that supports women professionals in the Nashville music industry. She was inducted into the SOURCE Hall of Fame in 2012.

“We are heartbroken over the loss of one of our beloved Founding SOURCE members Pat Rolfe,” said SOURCE Nashville president Kari Barnhart in a statement. “Pat’s heart for recognizing and elevating the Women Behind the Music is a legacy that will continue to live on through the organization she lovingly helped build with our other founding members Judy Harris and Shelia Shipley-Biddy over 33 years ago. Pat remained dedicated to the organization as a member of the Source Awards Committee through the years.”

Rolfe also served on the boards of organizations including the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI), Nashville Music Association and Copyright Society of the South.

Rolfe is survived by her husband of 54 years, Mack, as well as stepchildren John (Vanessa), Jim (Mary K) and Dick (Michelle); seven grandchildren; brothers Jim, Mike, Joe and Charlie Patterson; and sister Margaret Simmons. She was preceded in death by her parents, Marie and George Patterson, her brother Jerry Patterson and sister-in-law Ann Patterson.

A visitation with the family will be held on Wednesday (May 29) from 9:30 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. at Green Hills Community Church in Nashville, with the funeral service set to begin at 11:00 a.m. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations go to the Bonaparte’s Retreat Dog Rescue, the Green Hills Community Church or a charity of your choosing.

When Sabrina Carpenter signed with the Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) in October 2023, she was coming off the critical and commercial success of her 2022 Island Records debut Emails I Can’t Send, a project that established her as a formidable pop hitmaker with a distinct voice and a captivating appeal. But since that album’s release, her career has launched into the stratosphere, with a string of singles — “Nonsense” off the original Emails; “Feather,” which was released on the deluxe of Emails in August 2023; and, most recently, April 2024’s “Espresso” — that have each reached higher on the charts than the last, building her into a mainstream dynamo with song-of-the-summer hitmaking potential.
It’s been “Espresso,” however, that has truly captured the zeitgeist. The song zoomed onto the Billboard Hot 100 with a No. 7 debut, eventually reaching No. 4, but has done even better globally, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart — where it spends its second week this week, establishing it as a bona fide international hit. And through the work of her label at Island and her publishing company UMPG, that’s marked the highest chart placement of Carpenter’s career — and help earned UMPG co-head of U.S. A&R and head of UMPG’s global creative group David Gray the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.

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Here, Gray discusses the work UMPG has done with Carpenter in the six months since bringing her into the pubco, what sets her apart as a songwriter and the company’s global outlook. “She has always had a vision for herself as an artist and songwriter,” Gray says. “It’s rewarding to see her succeed at a global level and get all of the credit she deserves.”

This week, Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” spends its second week at No. 1 on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart and its fifth week in the top 10 of the Hot 100. What key decision did you make to help make that happen?

Overall at UMPG, we work to support our songwriters’ ideas and decisions in any way we can, whether putting together strategic writing sessions or working to secure great synch opportunities globally. 

Sabrina signed with UMPG last October. What were your first conversations like with her about her music and where she wanted to go?

Sabrina talked about how the Emails I Can’t Send album was a step up from where she was before and she was ready to take it up to the next level from there. She has always had a vision for herself as an artist and songwriter. It’s rewarding to see her succeed at a global level and get all of the credit she deserves.

What sets Sabrina apart from other pop stars as a songwriter, and how have you helped to emphasize that?

Sabrina has such a unique and brilliant songwriting voice, both lyrically and melodically. All the years of doing sessions, working hard, taking songwriting very seriously and perfecting her craft has made her not only the artist in the writing session… but she is also an A-list-level songwriter talent-wise. 

For the past two years you’ve headed up UMPG’s global creative group. How has that changed how you work with songwriters, and in what ways does it help your global reach?

At UMPG, we have always recognized that there are amazing writing opportunities for songwriters outside of their own territories. The number and quality of these writing opportunities has accelerated in the last few years. The communication between territories that the Global Creative Group provides is essential to making sure our writers get the best of these opportunities.

How are you preparing to deal with AI in the publishing world?

It’s still nascent in the broader creative community, but we know AI offers opportunities and risks. We embrace AI, just as we have other technology innovations in the past, but only AI technology that is ethical and artist-centric — in other words, only if it supports songwriters and protects their rights.

Lana Del Rey will receive this year’s NMPA Songwriter Icon award, the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) announced today. The award will be presented at the organization’s annual meeting at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City on June 12.

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Del Rey, 38, has received 11 Grammy nominations (but, surprisingly, no wins yet). Her nods include three in songwriting categories – “Norman Fu—ing Rockwell” and “A&W,” both for song of the year, and “Young and Beautiful” (from Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby) for best song written for visual media. She was also nominated for a Golden Globe for co-writing “Big Eyes” from the Tim Burton of the same name.

“Lana Del Rey defines being iconic,” NMPA president and CEO David Israelite said in a statement. “Her influence is felt across all genres and has inspired the biggest artists in the business. Her songwriting is deeply personal, and she continues to innovate – bringing fans thought provoking lyrics and indelible style.”

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Savan Kotecha will receive the NMPA Non-Performing Songwriter Icon award. Kotecha has received Grammy, Golden Globe and Oscar nods in songwriting categories. He received a Grammy nod for best song written for visual media and a Golden Globe nod for best original song for “Love Me Like You Do” and an Oscar nod for best original song for”Husavik” from Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga.

“Savan Kotecha is virtually unmatched in his impact on pop music,” Israelite said in a statement. “He has helped craft the sounds for so many of the biggest hits of the past decade. We are thrilled to honor his continued success.”

The timeless ballad “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” co-written by Luigi Creatore, Hugo Peretti and George David Weiss, will be honored as an NMPA Iconic Song. Elvis Presley’s original hit version of the song, recorded for his 1961 film Blue Hawaii, reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1962. UB40’s reggae-tinged cover version, recorded for the film Sliver, spent seven weeks at No. 1 in 1993.

Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA) will receive the NMPA President’s award for his work to support creators.

Additionally, Warner Music Group CEO Robert Kyncl will sit down for a keynote conversation. Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter will discuss the current challenges of protecting intellectual property.

The results are in: for the first quarter of 2024, Warner Chappell earned the top spot on the Country Airplay publisher rankings for the second quarter in a row. 
With a 33.08% market share, WCM, helmed in Nashville by president/CEO Ben Vaughn, is the top publisher. This is thanks to the shares the publisher had in eight of the top 10 songs of the quarter. Overall, it also had stakes in 68 of the quarter’s top 100 Country Airplay songs, including Country Airplay No. 1 Nate Smith’s “World On Fire,” HARDY’s No. 2 “Truck Bed,” and Warren Zeider’s No. 3 track “Pretty Little Poison.” 

Apart from Sony Music Publishing’s five-consecutive-quarter reign at No. 1 from Q3 of 2022 to Q3 of 2023, Warner Chappell has consistently held the quarterly top country music publisher title in Nashville, dating back to about 2017. 

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This quarter Sony Music Publishing held in second place with a 20.04% market share on the Country Airplay chart. SMP has shares in 51 of the chart’s songs including the top two tunes this quarter, which are both thanks to its tie to one of Nashville’s biggest hitmakers Ashley Gorley, who sold his catalog and signed a go-forward deal with SMP (in partnership with Domain Capital Group) in May 2022. For the first quarter, Gorley ranked as the top country songwriter, with a co-writer stake in 16 of the period’s Top 100 Country Airplay songs.

The rest of the market share for other companies on the Country Airplay chart lags far behind Nashville’s top two publishers. BMG comes in third, for example, with 8.18% market share, which is slightly more than two percentage points up from where they were last year in Q1 with 6.09% Country Airplay marketshare. It is the first time BMG has ranked above major publisher, Universal Music Publishing Group, since Q1 of 2018. Top songs for the publisher this quarter include Cody Johnson’s “The Painter,” the No. 4 song on the Country Airplay chart, and Chayce Beckham’s “23,” the No. 8 tune.

Universal Music Publishing Group holds the fourth spot this quarter with 6.85% market share on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart. Just three quarters ago, UMPG had an especially good quarter with a 12.71% ranking — about double what it reached this time. Top songs for UMPG include Thomas Rhett’s “Mawmaw’s House,” the No. 5 song and Scotty McCreery’s “Cab in a Solo,” the No. 15 tune.

Looking at the rankings from No. 5 to No. 8, Kobalt ranks fifth in market share for the Country Airplay chart at 5.78%; Big Machine Music slightly surpasses Concord at 4.11% to 4.10% market shares, respectively; Spirit Music ranks eighth with 2.02%.

The ninth largest publisher on the Country Airplay chart belongs to Purple Rabbit Music, the publishing company that represents songwriter Tracy Chapman. The spot represents the continued impact her song “Fast Car,” which was covered by Luke Combs last year and performed by the two artists together at the Grammy awards earlier this year. Its placement in the rankings represents its debut for the Top 10 Country Airplay publishers.

Lastly, Anthem brings up the end of the Top 10 Country Airplay publishers with a 1.87% marketshare, a tick below Purple Rabbit’s 1.88% share for the quarter.

Last CPQ: Tracy Chapman and Oliver Anthony Make History