songwriters
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Country music had a record-setting year in 2023, thanks to hit songs released by Morgan Wallen, Luke Combs, Oliver Anthony Music, Zach Bryan, Lainey Wilson, Jelly Roll and other big artists. But underpinning every chart-topping, impactful hit were the songwriters and writer-artists who weave together lyric, melody, rhythm and rhyme into a unique composition that […]
When the Recording Academy announced the new songwriter of the year category in 2022, the move was widely praised — and considered a rare win for the songwriting community, which has faced major economic challenges in the streaming and TikTok era.
“With the visibility brought by this award comes power,” says Justin Tranter, one of the five nominees for the honor this year. “The more that people know we exist, the more we can make sure the next generation is taken care of.”
Along with the new category, the academy created a new Songwriters & Composers Wing, helmed by hit-maker and Seeker Music CEO Evan Bogart, to continue expanding its outreach to the songwriter community. “The underpinning of what we do as an academy is built on songs,” Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr., said when announcing the new award and wing. “I started out as a songwriter myself, so the idea of honoring someone who is truly a professional songwriter and craftsperson is special.”
Though producers and artists often play a role in the songwriting process, the songwriter of the year award has specific rules to ensure that it honors the career songwriters who spend their days working primarily on melodies and lyrics, making it the rare space that formally honors the craft.
“As a songwriter, your job is to serve the artist,” the honor’s inaugural winner, Tobias Jesso Jr., told Grammy.com after his victory. “To have this symbol of ‘Hey, you can be creative as a songwriter and just be a songwriter who doesn’t sing and doesn’t produce, and you can get this prestigious symbol of your gifts that the world will now recognize’ — I think that’s a wonderful thing.”
When Billboard convenes this year’s nominees — a remarkably diverse sampling of today’s foremost hit-makers comprising Tranter, Jessie Jo Dillon, Shane McAnally, Edgar Barrera and Theron Thomas — the five songwriters express similar sentiments to Jesso’s and have an immediate camaraderie in conversation stemming from their shared vocation. “Songwriting is the most important part of a song,” Barrera says, “and it always will be.”
Every Billboard Hot 100 hit starts with the work of songwriters and producers. Though there has been a producer of the year, non-classical award at the Grammys since 1975, songwriters didn’t have their own category until last year. Why is it important that there’s a separate category to specifically honor songwriters?
Edgar Barrera: I do a lot of production, but I start my songs on guitar, and I produce after I have the song. Having a songwriter of the year award is super important because songwriting is the most important thing. Without a song there’s no touring, there’s no production, there’s no artists. There’s nothing.
Theron Thomas: I’ve never seen anybody sing along to a beat. I’m sorry. They don’t. They sing the words. Those lyrics touch people.
Justin Tranter: People say [of] awards that “Oh, it’s just an honor to be nominated.” Sometimes I think that’s bullsh-t, but with these four other nominees, I mean it. These are some of my favorite songwriters, period. To be in this company? Holy f–k!
Justin Tranter, 43. Nominated for: “Gemini Moon” (Reneé Rapp), “Honey! (Are U Coming?)” (Måneskin), “I Want More” (Marisa Davila and the Cast of Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies), “Jersey” (Baby Tate), “A Little Bit Happy” (TALK), “Pretty Girls” (Reneé Rapp), “River” (Miley Cyrus)
Jenna Peffley
Have you all followed your fellow nominees’ work over the years? If so, is there anything you particularly admire?
Barrera: I’ve actually worked with Theron a lot. He’s the only one I’ve worked with from here. I wish I could work with everyone soon. I’ve been a fan of everyone here. Justin has been a huge inspiration to me, just hearing him talk about songwriters’ rights and everything. Hats off to you, Justin. You’re standing up for all of us. I wish we could all hang out. We all need to get together during Grammy week.
Thomas: Oh, we 100% have to. We got to write a song together.
Shane McAnally: That would be so amazing.
Barrera: That would be pretty interesting, having all the Grammy nominees write together. All different genres.
What moment made you feel like you had made it as a songwriter? Was this songwriter of the year nomination one of those career-defining moments?
McAnally: I don’t think I’ve had that “made it” moment. (Laughs.) I’m kidding. When I was 33, almost 20 years in at that point, I lost my house, lost my car. I was really done. Finally, I had a song recorded by Lee Ann Womack [2008’s “Last Call”], and it gave me this moment of like, “OK, I have a thread to hang on to.” But for me, I really exhaled for the first time when I won a Grammy with Kacey Musgraves [best country album and best country song for 2013’s Same Trailer Different Park and its single “Merry Go ’Round,” respectively]. I remember thinking, “How did this happen? It has fallen apart so many times.” I rode on that wave for a while, but this nomination? I mean, this is really special. This is a moment for me.
I feel so outside of things. Country music is dominating right now, but it’s the artists I don’t work with — Morgan Wallen, Luke Combs and Zach Bryan — so for this nomination to come now is a big deal. There’s a gap in political views for me, with Morgan specifically, and they’re just from a different group. I don’t want to stereotype or lump everyone together, but sometimes you just feel outside while other people are killing it, and to be acknowledged this year, when [my work] wasn’t maybe as commercially obvious as some of my past years, feels amazing. I also feel really good about the integrity of this group of [nominees]. I think I’m really good at this, and I’ve worked my ass off, but it feels really nice to be acknowledged right now.
Tranter: I’m beautifully delusional, and at 15, I was like, “I am the best,” even though that didn’t mean my songs were good; at 15, they were actually quite unlistenable. (Laughs.) But I’ve always been delusionally positive.
There was a moment when my band [Semi Precious Weapons] was ending, and I was considering going back to work in retail. I was with Tricky Stewart, the legendary producer, and he was like, “You’re a really good songwriter. I don’t think you should give up on music just yet.” I was 33, and if you’re in the music business at 33 without any success, it’s starting to look like maybe it is time to pack it up. Having someone like Tricky say that to me was a turning point. I’ll never forget when my first hit, “Centuries” by Fall Out Boy, went No. 2 on iTunes in 2014. I was like, “That’s it. I’ve made it. If this is my life and this is all the success there was, then I am OK with that.”
This year, it has been really special because I intentionally worked on newer artists and wanted to push myself and work on projects where I could really shine lyrically, which is my favorite part of songs. To see that the bulk of my submissions for songwriter of the year are very new artists that the general population is not aware of yet is special.
Jessie Jo Dillon: My dad [Dean Dillon] is a songwriter. He’s in the Country Music Hall of Fame, so I always had a huge complex about him. I was massively insecure. In my first publishing deal, I wrote with Mark Nesler, who wrote many songs I grew up loving. We were leaving the write and he said, “Hey, I just want to tell you something. You’re supposed to be doing this. You just have to trust yourself and keep doing it.” I’ll never forget him saying that. Shane is also one of the first people that told me I was any good, too, and I loved so much of his writing. It has all been other writers that made me feel like I was going to make it.
Jessie Jo Dillon, 36. Nominated for: “Buried” (Brandy Clark), “Girl in the Mirror” (Megan Moroney), “Halfway to Hell” (Jelly Roll), “I Just Killed a Man” (Catie Offerman), “Memory Lane” (Old Dominion), “Neon Cowgirl” (Dan + Shay), “screen” (HARDY), “The Town in Your Heart” (Lori McKenna), “Up Above the Clouds (Cecilia’s Song)” (Brandy Clark)
Noah Needleman
Jessie Jo, your father came up in a very different time in the music business than you. Have you ever talked about the differences in being a songwriter from his generation to yours?
Dillon: I honestly don’t know how to give advice to newer songwriters. It used to be that you’d show up to a publisher and say, “Hey, I’ve been writing these songs. What do you think?” It feels like such a different game to break into now. I worry all the time that true, blue-collar songwriters who are writing every day in Nashville are going away. My dad says the money was much better in, say, the ’90s. Now because of streaming and everything, it’s hard to make ends meet. Maybe I’m being dramatic…
Tranter: No, I think you’re completely right. For me, fighting for songwriters’ rights is so easy because it’s not about me. I’ve had songs that have hit the top five at pop radio, which means my life is fantastic. Because I’m the lucky one, I need to fight for the next generation of songwriters.
I know a few young songwriters who are so talented. Their catalogs have a couple billion streams cumulatively, but one of them is still driving Uber. One is doing OnlyFans. They are doing whatever it takes to survive. If a song doesn’t go to radio, you don’t have much of anything. I think it’s very fair to say that the middle class of songwriters is going to be decimated — and it already is.
Barrera: It is looking really bad. In Latin, there are managers who get songwriting credits [despite not contributing to the songwriting] like it’s normal. It’s disrespectful to us because we write songs as our only source of income, but managers have a lot of other sources. I know a lot of big writers are still struggling. I feel bad for the next generation. I’m 33 years old, and I’ve been looking at all of this transition. Getting a radio single is really one of the only ways to make real money.
Dillon: It makes me sad to think about the next Diane Warren or Bernie Taupin, moving to Los Angeles or Nashville or Miami or New York or wherever, and that they maybe wouldn’t even get a publishing deal or be able to sustain themselves. Sometimes it takes a writer years of development to reach their full potential.
Barrera: There should be a songwriter fee, like there is for a producer. It’s not fair that the producer is the only one to make money from day one.
Thomas: Us talking like we are right now and standing up for each other is so important. I do have some producer friends who stand up for me, too, which I appreciate. They are like, “Yo, make sure you take care of Theron.” Communicating with each other, sticking up for the next generation and setting the standard high for ourselves can make things better. I think [fear of missing out] on a big record is the reason why a lot of executives get away with giving songwriters almost nothing. A lot of us fear missing out on being in the writing room on a big song because we speak up.
Theron Thomas, 41. Nominated for: “All My Life” (Lil Durk featuring J. Cole), “I’ve Been Thinking” (Tyla), “Cheat- back” (Chlöe and Future), “How We Roll” (Ci- ara and Chris Brown), “Make Up Your Mind” (Cordae), “Pretty Girls Walk” (Big Boss Vette), “Seven” (Jung Kook and Latto), “Told Ya” (Chlöe and Missy Elliott), “You and I” (Sekou)
Christopher Ayme
Edgar, what moment made you feel like you had made it as a songwriter?
Barrera: Getting nominated for this Grammy. For me, that’s huge coming from the Latin market. Just getting to make it with Spanish songs. I was like, “What’s going on?” That’s when I realized that music almost has no language, no barriers. We’re a minority part of the music business, and we are changing the game for the Latin community. That’s why it was such an important moment.
Regional Mexican music had an especially big year in 2023, and you played a role in propelling its success. What is it like to be nominated during this pivotal year for the genre in particular, Edgar?
Barrera: I’ve worked with a lot of big names in Latin music, and this year was different because I decided to go back to my hometown [of McAllen, Texas] and support a local act, Grupo Frontera. We grew up together. Where we are from, on the border of Mexico and the U.S., being a songwriter and producer is not even a thing to be in life, you know? Getting the opportunity to support local acts and having them on a song with Bad Bunny, it just doesn’t happen every day. They’re so humble and for me, that’s what I enjoyed the most.
Before this, [Grupo Frontera’s] singer was making fences in McAllen, Texas. The accordion player was selling cows. The percussion player was selling cars. I met all those guys when they performed at a local tire shop for 20 people. Nobody was paying attention to them. They said, “We love what you write. Can you help us out?” And I said, “Of course, why not?” It has been life-changing. This is what is truly important — being part of a movement for regional Mexican with people I grew up with. It’s so full circle.
Edgar Barrera, 33. Nominated for: “Cuestion de Tiempo” (Don Omar), “Falsa Alar- ma (En Vivo)” (Grupo Firme), “Gucci los Paños” (Karol G), “La Despedida” (Christian Nodal), “Mi Ex Tenía Razón” (Karol G), “Que Vuelvas” (Carín León and Grupo Frontera), “Un Cum- bión Dolido” (Christian Nodal), “un x100to” (Grupo Frontera and Bad Bunny), “yo pr1mero” (Rels B)
Natalia Aguilera
Theron, what moment made you feel like you had made it as a songwriter?
Thomas: I moved here with $35 from St. Thomas [in the U.S. Virgin Islands]. I went to Miami, slept on the floor, moved to Atlanta. I [have] never felt like I made it because I always feel like I’m one hit away from having to tell my wife and kids, “It’s over. We’re going back to our first apartment with three kids and two bedrooms.” I am doing really well and money is no issue, but you know what I mean? I don’t want to lie and make something up. I don’t know if I’ve necessarily had [that moment]. I’m just minding my business and continuously working every day.
A couple of you mentioned what an honor it is to be nominated based on true passion projects. How do you balance taking on sessions with big names with great chances at commercial success — but that may not be as creatively fulfilling — and sessions with smaller artists that bring you creativity and joy but likely won’t result in a commercial hit?
McAnally: I’ve done the years of trying to get in every commercial room, and now I really like going with something I’m passionate about. Nobody has any idea what’s going to happen with songs nowadays. New artists can go viral in seconds. Old songs can, too. You just never know.
I have always had the most fun and the most success with things that I saw through from the beginning. I was there right when Kacey Musgraves came to Nashville. I was there when Sam Hunt came to Nashville. I was so enamored with what we were making because it was new, and we didn’t know if they were ever going to have success. I’m trying to get back to that.
Tranter: I was just looking at the Instagram account @indiesleaze, which is all photos from the era my band came up in. It was punk as f–k and gay as f–k. And I thought to myself, “25-year-old me would be so embarrassed [by] half of my catalog,” but hey, I got to make music the whole world has heard and my parents got to retire. I could not be more grateful for the songs that 25-year-old me would be talking sh-t about.
I am in a place now where I want to get back to “Do I f–king love this song?” And listen, I have my hits that I am so proud of, but now I want every single song that comes out from here on out to be something 43-year-old me is proud of and 25-year-old me is proud of, too.
Barrera: I’ve always been involved with artists that are up and coming. Working with big names is enjoyable, too, but for me, giving another song to a big-name artist is not that life-changing. I try to be involved from the beginning. For example, I met Maluma way before he was famous. We started off together. I helped him mold his music. I’ve done that with Christian Nodal and Camilo. I’ve always been involved from the very beginning because I feel like I can experiment a lot more with up-and-coming artists.
Shane McAnally, 49. Nominated for: “Come Back to Me” (Brandy Clark), “Good With Me” (Walker Hayes), “He’s Never Gunna Change” (Lauren Daigle), “I Should Have Married You” (Old Dominion), “Independently Owned” (Alex Newell and Original Broadway Cast of Shucked), “Never Grow Up” (Niall Horan), “Start Somewhere” (Sam Hunt), “Walmart” (Sam Hunt), “We Don’t Fight Anymore” (Carly Pearce and Chris Stapleton)
Robby Klein
You’re an extremely diverse group, hailing from different genres, nationalities, races, genders and sexual orientations. Why is writers’ room diversity important?
Tranter: I just think it’s the right thing to do for humanity, but the way to really understand how important diversity in the writers’ room is [is] to show that it’s great for business. We are trying to make music that the whole world loves. The more diverse your writing room is, the more diverse the audience is going to be that enjoys that music.
I have a rule that I don’t write songs for women without a woman writer in the room. This is not because I’m trying to be a great person; it’s because I know it’s going to be a better song when a woman is writing, capturing her real lived experiences in the world.
How will you be celebrating on Grammy night?
Barrera: I’m going, and I want to see all these guys there. It is not a matter of winning or not. That night, for me, is to meet Shane, Justin, Jessie Jo and hang out with Theron. I’m just here for fun. I think we all deserve a night of fun… or a week, maybe. (Laughs.)
McAnally: I’ll be there this year to celebrate. I bought a suit for the Tonys that wasn’t ready in time, and now I have the perfect place to wear it.
Tranter: I am going for sure. We worked so hard to get nominated. I will be there with my mom and dad. I will look unbelievable. I’m going to have a f–king blast.
Thomas: I’m definitely going. Last year, I won record of the year with Lizzo for “About Damn Time,” [but] they [had] put me in the nosebleeds. I couldn’t go up onstage. When we won, I just cried. Not because I couldn’t go up there, but because I wanted to win so badly. I was so happy, but this year? We’re going to have better seats in that thing! Don’t tell on me, but I might need to sneak a little drink in there, too.
McAnally: I mean, I hope they get us better seats.
Thomas: Honestly, I’m just looking forward to meeting everyone. Last year was the first year they had this award, and I remember saying to myself that I wanted to be in the songwriter of the year category someday. Here I am this year — I’m in it, and I’m in it with you guys. Words can’t really express how this moment feels as a songwriter. To be celebrated on one of the most important nights in music, chosen by our peers. I’m excited about that, period.
This story will appear in the Dec. 16, 2023, issue of Billboard.
At the SONA Warrior Awards in October, hitmaker Justin Tranter used his acceptance speech as an opportunity to warn the music business: “If we’re not careful,” he said. “We’re just not going to have any songwriters left.”
It used to be a lot easier to make a living as a songwriter. In the days of physical records, songwriters would get paid with each album sale, even if they had the least popular song on the album. Now, in the streaming era, songwriters say the only way to get a livable wage is to write the album’s breakout single. Getting a song on AM/FM radio is still a good way to make money, but radio hits are tough to come by. Plus, there’s the problem with artists demanding cuts of publishing income, even if they didn’t pen the song, and writing rooms have grown bigger than ever. For these reasons and more, songwriters like Tranter say the current business has led to the “decimation of the songwriter middle class.”
To try to alleviate some of the strain facing songwriters, three small independent labels – Tranter’s Facet Records, The Other Songs and Good Boy Records – have made a new pledge they hope will catch on: giving songwriters a percentage of master royalties— or “points” — on every single record.
“We didn’t feel like the industry was changing fast enough to fix this,” says Billy Webber, co-founder of London-based indie label The Other Songs, which has Ren, Navy and SUPER-Hi on its roster. His company, founded alongside brother Alastair Webber, started first as a series of events, offering songwriters the chance to perform their unused pitch songs in front of a crowd of publishers and advertisers. From the start, Webber says, they knew they wanted to not only take care of their artists, but also to look after the writers behind their records.
In 2020, The Other Songs started offering four points to songwriters on every recording, split between however many writers there are. (The policy excludes writers who are also the artist or producer, roles which already receive cuts of the master income.) They call it the “TOS Writer Royalty,” and it is taken from the label’s share of revenue — not the artist’s.
Tranter’s Facet Records — home to emerging talent like Jake Wesley Rogers, Shawn Wasabi and Shea Diamond — announced earlier this year that it would start a similar program, offering three points from the label’s share to songwriters, also split between however many non-performing writers were on the track.
Jaime Zeluck-Hindlin — founder of Nonstop Management which represents hitmakers JKash, Michael Pollack, and Ryan OG — says she has been calling for a standardized system for songwriter master points for years. She explains that her larger writers can sometimes get half a point or a point on a master when they have enough leverage to negotiate it, but it is still considered a luxury for anyone to receive. “It’s not the norm yet,” she explains. These days Zeluck-Hindlin asks for points for all her clients, not just the hitmakers, and has been making some headway, but she notes it’s a careful conversation that varies project-by-project. “More than ever,” she says, “it’s so hard for songwriters to make money, so I don’t feel as bad asking anymore.”
Writers and their teams are in a difficult position when asking for master points: They don’t want to push too hard and threaten getting cut out of sessions for being labeled “too demanding,” and if an A-list artist wants to cut a song, their name and image alone could propel it to success.
Songwriters historically have not received payment for the master recording, because they are not part of that formal recording process like producers and artists. But now, citing economic hardship for writers — even with a song that is a streaming “success” — it has become more common. “I’ve noticed people are way more open to the conversation than they were before,” says Zeluck-Hindlin.
It might seem like giving a songwriter master income is a band-aid for a larger issue, but those who are fighting for it feel it is the best option available, given the current system. Streaming rates on the publishing side have always been considerably lower than on the master side, and in the U.S., publishing income is regulated by the government, making it much more difficult to make changes.
Good Boy Records, a label started by producer Elie Rizk and entrepreneur and manager John Zamora that represents Mazie, Judith and Georgee, is also working on their own system for master points. “We want to give out one point per songwriter,” says Rizk. The team at Good Boy started to work on finding a way to cut in songwriters since Mazie hit it big with her song “dumb dumb,” which helped Good Boy recoup its distribution deal with Virgin and see “real money” for the first time earlier this year.
By May, the team paid every songwriter who had ever worked with the emerging label a small non-recoupable fee as a thank you. “Since then, we have gotten savvier with our system,” says Zamora. “We treat songwriters like we treat producers – with fees and points every time, but we are still evolving as we go.”
Some producers are also hoping to address the economic problems facing songwriters. Producer, Tre Jean Marie, posted to Instagram this summer that he would be giving £500 of his production fee to non-performing songwriters on every major label release he has. “I believe that the record labels, turning over billions of pounds in revenue every year, should shoulder the responsibility of ensuring songwriters are compensated for their time and work, but until that happens, I want to help,” he wrote. Rizk says he has also shared a portion of his producer fee and points with songwriters on the recent single “Heartbroken” by Diplo, Jessie Murph, and Polo G to makes the payments more equitable.
The heads of the three indie labels say that they hope that by being public about their new offerings for songwriters it will encourage other labels, especially larger ones with much greater financial impact, to follow suit. Tranter says they are already talking with one “pretty large company” to discuss how to implement a similar system at that company and is hopeful for more to follow suit.
But he is not confident the majors will accommodate songwriters anytime soon, especially those that are publicly traded. He thinks there are still other changes that can be made within any label to make it more songwriter-friendly, like offering per-diems, free lunch or free transportation to sessions.
“If we can do it [as a new label], then pretty much any record label that’s really taking itself seriously can do it as well,” Webber says. “Songwriters are basically the beating heart of our industry. Without them, we’re not going to have any masters anyway.”
Sony Music Publishing ruled the Top Radio Airplay, Hot 100 Songs and Country Airplay publisher rankings for its third consecutive quarter of 2023, and Warner Chappell Music surged to No. 2 on the Hot 100 Songs chart — the first time it has held the position since the Hot 100 ranking began in 2019.
For the period spanning July through September, all of the big three publishers benefited from shares in the Afrobeats radio hit “Calm Down” by Rema and Selena Gomez. Sony also benefited from stakes in “Last Night” by Morgan Wallen, which hit No. 5 on the Top Radio Airplay chart, and Taylor Swift’s surprise hit “Cruel Summer,” which reached No. 3 on the quarter’s Hot 100 Songs ranking, four years after its initial release due to its placement as the opening song of Swift’s The Eras Tour.
Last quarter, Tracy Chapman’s Purple Rabbit Music publishing company broke into the Hot 100 and Top Radio Airplay charts (ranking No. 7 and No. 10, respectively) for the first time, thanks to Luke Combs’ cover of her 1988 song “Fast Car.” This quarter, her market share as a publisher/songwriter grew even higher. Chapman finished the quarter as the top songwriter on all three charts, propelling Purple Rabbit Music to No. 5 on Top Radio Airplay and No. 6 on both Hot 100 Songs and Country Airplay.
But she wasn’t the only self-published songwriter to make the charts this quarter. As the sole writer of “Rich Men North of Richmond,” Oliver Anthony Music’s publishing company, Christopher Anthony Lunsford Pub Designee, placed at No. 8 on Hot 100 Songs with a 1.49% market share, surpassing such top 10 perennials as Downtown and Reservoir. Like Chapman, Anthony is the sole songwriter of his breakthrough song.
This is the first time that two independent songwriters have broken into the Hot 100 Songs chart at the same time.
Warner Chappell rose to No. 2 on the Hot 100 ranking for the first time in 19 quarters. Previously, it often ranked third or fourth. “Last Night” by Morgan Wallen, “Calm Down” by Rema and Selena Gomez, and 49 other Hot 100 Songs hits accounted for its strong showing of 18.18% of the market share. The publisher held steady in third place on the Top Radio Airplay chart with 15.87% of the market share, and ranked second on the Country Airplay chart with a 26.2% share.
Universal Music Publishing Group took second place on Top Radio Airplay — where its song placements increased to 52 from 49 in the second quarter — and third on Hot 100 Songs. Combs’ “Love You Anyway,” No. 3 on Country Airplay; “Cruel Summer”; and “Calm Down” were UMPG’s highest-ranked songs.
Kobalt held fast to No. 4 on both Top Radio Airplay and Hot 100 Songs but slid to No. 5 on Country Airplay behind BMG. The latter publisher’s share in Jelly Roll’s “Need a Favor” helped it edge past Kobalt’s 4.59% market share with 4.93%.
BMG and Big Machine Music both climbed in the ranks on the Country Airplay charts this quarter. BMG rose from fifth to fourth ranking, thanks to its share of 12 songs on the chart this quarter, including Jelly Roll’s “Need a Favor.” BMM climbed from eighth last quarter (2.57%) to seventh this quarter (2.97%), thanks in part to Luke Bryan’s “But I Got a Beer In My Hand.”
Concord finished 10th on Top Radio Airplay with 1.37%. That percentage might rise in the fourth quarter due to its acquisitions of Round Hill Music and Mojo Music & Media in September. If Concord’s third-quarter market share was combined with those of Round Hill and Pulse, which Concord also owns but lists separately, it would have finished at No. 5 on Top Radio Airplay with 4.96% and at No. 7 on Hot 100 Songs with 3.1%.
Rounding out the top 10, Reservoir fell to No. 8 on Top Radio Airplay with 1.82%, though it improved on its No. 7-ranked second-quarter share of 1.62%. It rounded out the Hot 100 Songs top 10 with 1.17%. Hipgnosis (1.76%) and Downtown (1.44%) finished at No. 9 on Top Radio Airplay and Hot 100 Songs, respectively.
Additional reporting by Ed Christman.
Even if Spotify’s new royalty model won’t pay artists’ whose tracks don’t hit 1,000 streams in a year, songwriters will still earn money from those plays — for now, at least.
As Billboard reported last month, Spotify is planning to implement three changes to its royalty model early next year that would affect the lowest-streaming acts, non-music noise tracks and distributors and labels committing fraud. Under this new scheme, more than two-thirds of the tracks uploaded to that platform will be eligible to receive royalties — but that, notably, that will only impact about 0.5% of the royalty pool.
Nevertheless, this has sparked debate around the music community, with some questioning the ethics of not paying artists for whatever streams they garnered simply because they were not popular enough. Others supported the plan, citing the paltry sums an artist would be making for under 1,000 annual streams anyway (which amounts to about five cents). Many also believe this new rule could provide alleviate the issue of the royalty pool being divided among the exponentially-growing number of songs on Spotify’s platform, which likely dilutes the amount of money flowing to career artists.
But this change to Spotify’s royalty model does not affect songwriters and publishers payments at all, a source close to the company confirmed to Billboard. It just affects those who are involved in the master recording copyright.
For the uninitiated, there are two copyrights associated with every song released: the underlying musical work (often also called the “composition” or “song”) copyright, which protects the lyrics and melodies written by songwriters, and the master recording (also called the “sound recording”) copyright, which protects the artists’ one specific recording of that musical work.
In the United States, the royalty rates that songwriters and publishers can charge for the composition side of things are controlled by a government entity known as the Copyright Royalty Board. Every five years, the statutory rate structure for songwriters and publishers is renegotiated with the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) as well as Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) and other groups and individuals who represent the music industry’s fight to raise rates. (Other territories often base their publishing royalty rates off of those set in the U.S.)
Not everyone agrees on what specific rate structure they want, which has led to some infighting, but they all unite behind one principle: songwriters should earn more money. In fact, publishing earns just a fraction what the recorded music side does on streaming overall, the rates are far from equal. Many in the music business wish the current Copyright Royalty Board system could be abolished, freeing songwriters and publishers to negotiate rates in a free market without government interference, but this is unlikely to change, given it would require an act of Congress to overhaul an over one hundred year old law and services, many of which are owned by some of the world’s largest technology companies, would certainly lobby against it.
Those whose interests lie on the recording side, like record labels, get to negotiate directly with streaming services to set their royalty structure. This is why the streaming payment system can be experimented with in the ways seen now through Spotify’s recent changes, as well as Deezer’s new “artist-centric” payment plan, created with UMG. Overall, the publishing side of the business is handcuffed to whatever the current ruling says.
The system of streaming royalty payments for publishers and songwriters for 2023-2027 (also known as “phonorecords IV” “phono IV” or “CRB IV”), the current five year period, has already been set. National Music Publishers’ Association president and CEO David Israelite says it is possible that the next five year period, phono V, could be reconfigured to more closely mirror what is happening on the master recording side but that determination process won’t begin until about early 2026.
“We will have the benefit of watching how this plays out for a while before we ever have to address it, but it’s way too early to speculate what we might do,” says Israelite. Still, he adds, “it is horrible that we are locked in the statutory rate structure where we have no flexibility other than these five year windows but that is our situation… It’s a very different conversation than one company sitting down with another company and agreeing what they want to do [like it happens on the master side]. We are asking a court through litigation or an agreement to set a structure that applies to everyone and to build consensus around that. It’s much harder to change.”
Nashville music publishing company Boom Music Group has severed ties with SESAC Nashville Music Awards’ 2020 songwriter of the year Matthew McGinn, after felony and misdemeanor charges were filed against him on Oct. 28 in Davidson County, Tenn. “Boom Music Group is extremely saddened about the reprehensible events that transpired this weekend with Matt McGinn,” […]
BMI has released its annual report for its fiscal year and, for the first time ever, it hardly contains any financial information.
Such information as how much it collected or distributed in the recently completed year is not revealed in the annual report, even though BMI has historically revealed detailed financial information every year. The report also doesn’t show how much collection and distribution amounts changed from the prior year’s $1.573 billion and $1.471 billion, respectively.
The only information indicating BMI’s financial performance in the year is an observation by BMI president and CEO Mike O’Neill that “every distribution we issued in our last fiscal year was higher than the corresponding one from the previous year.” No further specifics were provided.
The only numbers in the entire annual report that give any indication of how much activity BMI tracked in the year was a note that the performance rights organization processed 2.61 trillion performances, while its membership grew 7% to 1.4 million affiliates, and that it licenses and collects on behalf of 22.4 million works. Dollar amounts only appear once in the 24-page report, when O’Neill states in the opening note that BMI’s November distribution is forecast to be $400 million — which he labeled another record “that would make BMI the first ever PRO to ever distribute this high an amount in a single quarter.” The November quarter is in its current fiscal year, and not a part of the completed year covered in the annual report.
Last October, BMI announced it was switching from a not-for-profit model to a for-profit one. Now, in an opening note to this latest report, O’Neill disclosed the organization’s goal is to distribute 85% of the licensing revenue it collects to songwriters and publishers. The other 15% of collections, he wrote, will cover overhead and allow BMI to achieve a modest profit margin, noting that expenses typically comprise about 10% of revenue. In recent years, BMI’s distribution has been about $90% of revenue.
If BMI creates new M&A opportunities, however, or enters new businesses or offers expanded services, O’Neill said that BMI “will look to take a higher margin on any revenue generated, though always with the goal of sharing that new growth with our affiliates.” In other words, for those business, BMI may not limit itself to a 5% profit margin.
O’Neill also noted that “if BMI decides to seek outside capital or borrow money to invest in new services and opportunities, any repayments will come out of our retained profits and not distributions.”
In the current fiscal year, O’Neill reported that under the new business model BMI’s February distribution was its largest ever, up 6% over the previous year. That was then surpassed by the May distribution, which was up 15% over the corresponding year-earlier period. O’Neill predicted that the next two distributions for the remaining calendar year will follow that trend. For the full calendar year, distributions are projected to be 11% above calendar 2023, the report noted.
Going forward, O’Neill said BMI will announce percentage increases, but apparently will continue to withhold all other financial information.
Seemingly responding to immense pressure from the songwriter community and music publishers who have publicly expressed their unhappiness about BMI’s switch to profitability and its evasion of the many questions they asked, after disclosing the 85% distribution goal, O’Neill’s opening note repeats many of the thoughts he has already shared through open letters on the issue. “We changed our business model last year to invest in our company and position BMI for continued success in our rapidly evolving industry,” he wrote. “Our mission remains the same, to serve our songwriters, composers and publishers and continue to grow our overall distributions as BMI has done each year that I have been CEO. In order to continue this trajectory, we need to think more commercially, explore new sources of revenue and invest in our platforms to improve the quality of service we provide to you. I’m pleased to say that we have already made great progress on delivering these goals.”
He also reiterated that BMI changed its business model to better position the company for success in a rapidly evolving industry. “Our mission remains the same, to serve our songwriters, composers and publishers and continue to grow our overall distributions as BMI has done each year that I have been CEO,” O’Neill wrote. “In order to continue this trajectory, we need to think more commercially, explore new sources of revenue and invest in our platforms to improve the quality of service we provide to you.”
While BMI can accomplish its plans and goals on its own, O’Neill wrote, “We also recognize the opportunity to substantially accelerate our growth by partnering with a like-minded, growth-oriented investor with a successful history of building businesses. Of course, that partner would need to share our vision that driving value for our affiliates goes hand-in-hand with growing our business and building a stronger BMI.”
As Billboard previously reported, BMI is in an exclusive period with New Mountain Capital in a deal to sell the PRO — which is currently owned by radio and television broadcasters — at a $1.7 billion valuation. The valuation, however, sources say, is under downward pressure as negotiations continue.
While stating nothing has yet been signed, O’Neill wrote that the for-profit business model and the strategy outlined “will hold true for BMI whether or not we move forward with a sale.” In other words, BMI will continue to be a for-profit business, regardless of whether it sells or not.
BMI’s October 2022 switch to operating as a for-profit company didn’t cause a big reaction in the music business until a July 2023 Reuters article about the company being put up for sale revealed that it had generated $147 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. Then the response was significant – and mostly negative. The fear was that profit would essentially come at the expense of royalty payouts.
Even so, BMI executives and other music business sources familiar with the way private equity funds think about business suggest that songwriters and executives should wait to see how the performance rights organization’s vision, backed by the right strategic partner — such as New Mountain Capital, with which BMI is negotiating — could help them.
BMI has said it is switching models and seeking a buyer in order to respond to a changing market. “We need to continue to invest in our business and explore new avenues for revenue generation,” CEO Mike O’Neill said in an Aug. 18 letter to creators groups that was shared with Billboard, “so we can continue to expand our distribution sources.”
To do that, while delivering the kind of growth a buyer will presumably want, BMI plans to explore new businesses to build a company that can operate at scale, and across national borders, more efficiently than it now does. The idea, according to sources inside and familiar with BMI, is to create a new interdependent royalty-collection ecosystem that will benefit BMI and its potential new owner, as well as its affiliates.
BMI is looking for “a partner who can help us take advantage of new opportunities and provide a new level of investment and technological expertise,” according to a Sept. 5 letter from O’Neill to creators groups published on BMI’s website. New Mountain Capital, which is in an exclusive period to negotiate a deal with the performance rights organization, could be such a partner, executives familiar with the private equity sector suggest, since the firm has a track record of investing in companies to help them achieve significant growth. Since its 1995 launch, New Mountain — which now oversees more than $35 billion in assets and funds — has acquired or founded more than 60 companies, without any going into bankruptcy and without missing an interest payment, according to the company.
In particular, sources familiar with New Mountain Capital point to its investment in Blue Yonder, a software company the private equity firm acquired for $565 million in 2010 and sold to Panasonic in 2021 for an enterprise value of $8.5 billion. The private equity firm, “through continued investment and improvement” helped grow it from a “somewhat sleepy niche company to being the 14th largest software company in the nation,” New Mountain Capital’s CEO Steve Klinsky wrote in the May-June 2022 issue of Harvard Business Review. “We offer the capabilities and access to capital that a large corporate parent would, without forcing companies to become part of a conglomerate culture. At the same time, we bring a fresh, entrepreneurial vision to strategy, talent, R&D, technology, and corporate alliances.”
Still, BMI has not specifically addressed many of the concerns raised by its switch to a for-profit model, which is why songwriters and publishers remain nervous. In fact, on Sept. 18 a letter signed by dozens of lawyers called on BMI to engage in open and honest conversations with affiliates, saying that the PRO owes them the responsibility to respond with “specificity and transparency.”
“I get it that some writers may have legitimate worries because in a vacuum there is not a clear picture of what such a deal could be and how it could be a positive for BMI,” says a veteran music business executive. “But a lot of people with their own interest have been spreading very negative spins with shrill voices that what BMI is doing will be bad for publishers and songwriters.”
In the case of New Mountain Capital, the executive says, they “are nice, smart people” that help businesses add new processes to help them grow substantially and become even more profitable. New Mountain Capital has been studying the music industry for a few years and looked at some substantial deals, sources say, but so far has passed on them until now.
“There is so much negativity out there that doesn’t give this deal the benefit of the doubt,” says another executive. “New Mountain Capital are not corporate raiders; they are intelligent and love the business and want to grow the revenue base so that publishers and writers will be making more money and still make a profit for BMI.”
That’s exactly the kind of approach BMI is looking for, according to executives familiar with its strategy. In its first year as a for-profit business, for example, BMI announced a partnership with the United Arab Emirates company Music Nation to try to establish a public performance licensing and royalty infrastructure there. BMI has also undertaken an “extensive customer service initiative” to enhance the service it provides to affiliates, with plans for an improved online service portal to follow.
The company has said that its move to a for-profit model made these investments possible. But one music publishing executive, who requested anonymity, wonders “why is it easier to invest in systems upgrades as a for-profit entity rather than as a not-for-profit organization?” One answer: The level of investment would impact distributions to affiliates under the previous not-for-profit system.
Publishing executives also believe that growing outside the U.S. will become a priority for BMI. Most of the growth for royalty collections is now coming from the growth of streaming services, and most of that will be international. Over the past decade, some of the European collective management organizations teamed much with publishers to license repertoire for online purposes across Europe, as European law allows. Such a model could also work in other territories, such as Latin America, Asia, or even the Middle East.
Given the opportunity for BMI outside the U.S., another executive wonders if it could be the first organization to try to rollout a global model, with a global membership. And if so, whether that would re-ignite competition to sign writers around the world.
Meanwhile, some executives speculate about whether New Mountain might be frightened off by the antitrust consent decree under which BMI operates, but “they understand deeply what that means,” says a source familiar with the fund, “and that it is baked into the business.”
Private equity is known for growing profits, not restraining them, but sources familiar with BMI’s thinking say that potential suitors need to understand that the company will prioritize payouts. In fact, a potential deal would not involve an expectation of “insane margins,” says one music industry executive who has worked with private equity. If a sale takes place, said O’Neill in an Aug 19 letter, BMI “would ensure that any partner embraces our mission of prioritizing the interests of songwriters, including their financial success.”
For-profit, for whom?
It’s “easy to assume that if we kept doing business the way we always had, distributions would continue to grow,” O’Neill wrote in his Sept. 5 letter posted on the company’s website. “That is a dangerous assumption to make, because in an evolving industry like ours, you run the risk of settling for a larger slice of a shrinking pie. Our goal is to grow that pie to your benefit.”
So far, in the three quarterly distributions since BMI announced its shift to a for-profit model, combined payouts were 9% greater than the same periods of the previous year. That’s almost as good as the 10.2% increase to $1.471 billion that BMI distributed in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2022, when overall revenue grew 15.6% to $1.573 billion, when it was still operating as a non-profit. (BMI is not releasing how much distributions increased for the full year ended June 30, 2023, and it will no longer release any company-wide revenue results, sources say. Instead, it will provide more information to songwriters and publishers to help them measure BMI’s payments in comparison to the past, and in some cases, if songwriters so request, to other PROs.)
Some songwriters and executives argue that, if BMI is sold, affiliates deserve some of the revenue from that sale. But as one industry executive familiar with private equity points out, it’s actually surprising that BMI’s owners – radio and television stations – didn’t sell it a long time ago.
“For over 80 years, you have had owners — all for-profit companies with their own businesses — and yet they didn’t make any profit on BMI,” that executive says. “And I guess it would be unseemly for them to pull dividends out at the same time they are paying licensing fees.” At the same time, he adds, those owners had to watch SESAC and GMR come along and build very profitable businesses.
SESAC, which is considerably smaller than BMI, was sold to the private equity firm Blackstone for about $1 billion in 2017. Ironically, at the end of 2018, one of Blackstone’s investment funds acquired a passive minority equity stake in New Mountain Capital, a fact that U.S. regulators could look at, if New Mountain Capital moves forward with its BMI acquisition.
“The fact is that the broadcasters own BMI; and they are entitled to sell it,” the executive says. “I understand that the music industry likes the status quo, but if you start with the premise that the owners will sell, then you would want them to sell it to someone who is decent and understands the industry. It’s not smart to push [New Mountain Capital] away with a big outcry, because you don’t know who will come along next.”
There is also the potential for BMI to grow into a more modern company in a way that benefits the entire industry, the source says. “Take a year or two and see how things roll forward and how things shake out. If [BMI] songwriters are happy, then they can stay; and if not, then they can look to make a move.”
A coalition of songwriter and artist groups have expressed that they are “extremely disappointed and upset” with BMI in a letter to the firm’s CEO and president Mike O’Neill. Obtained by Billboard, the letter is written in response to last week’s news that the performing rights organization may sell to private equity firm New Mountain Capital for around $1.7 billion, according to multiple sources.
Consisting of Songwriters of North America (SONA), Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC), Music Artists Coalition, Artist Rights Alliance, and SAG AFTRA, the coalition’s new letter asks O’Neill for “real, substantive answers” to questions they posed to the company leader in a previous letter from Aug. 18, citing that O’Neill’s original response did “not answer any of [their] questions.”
The Aug. 18 letter addressed three major concerns: BMI’s profits; the proceeds from any potential BMI sale; and what may happen operationally at BMI in the event that the organization is sold.
Five days later, on Aug. 23, Billboard reported that BMI was, in fact, in the process of selling. Spurred by that report, the coalition wrote their second letter to O’Neill, asking for the executive to respond to songwriters “prior to taking any other action” towards its possible sale. “If you do not want to provide us with written answers, we are happy to meet with you as a group,” it says.
They also call out BMI for responding to their last request by saying that there was an uplift in BMI’s distributions last year. “Of course distributions went up — all PROs’ revenue went up,” the new letter reads. “This does not answer any of our questions. And it does not explain where the $145m EBITDA (as reported by Billboard today) came from and why that money was not distributed to songwriters.”
A representative for BMI replied to the letter in a statement to Billboard a few hours after its receipt, saying, “Relying on the past has never sustained a business for the future. Our goal is to stay ahead of the changing industry and invest in our business to grow the value of our affiliates’ music. Any path forward would prioritize the best interests of our songwriters, composers and publishers, including their financial success. Our focus is on delivering for our affiliates.”
BMI’s changing business model has been the source of concern and confusion within the music industry since March 2022. At that time, it was reported that the performing rights organization had hired Goldman Sachs as an outside advisor to explore new strategic opportunities for growth. As a non-profit organization since its inception over 80 years prior, the Goldman Sachs news signaled a major shift for BMI and was rumored to include a possible sale to an outside firm. In August 2022, however, Bloomberg announced that BMI had ditched its exploration of such a sale. A few days later, Billboard reported that the PRO laid off “just under 10%” of its workforce, about 30 people, in order to approve “efficiency” during “uncertain economic times,” said O’Neill in a company-wide email.
Last October, BMI announced that it would be switching from its non-profit status to become a for-profit company. O’Neill explained to Billboard that the company made this switch because “growth requires investment, not just maintenance… This new [commercial] model will grow at a faster rate.” Given the fast-shifting performance royalty landscape, moving from in-person to mainly digital collections, BMI appeared to want to invest more in modernizing its operations with its new model.
This summer, BMI resurfaced the potential of selling to an outside firm. In a memo to staff in late July, O’Neill said that the company has been increasingly interested in a sale over the last year. He added that by leveraging the company’s new for-profit model and recent investments made into BMI to improve its operations, BMI “has only intensified outside interest.”
Read the songwriter groups’ full letter here:
Mr. Mike O’NeillBroadcast Music, Inc.
Re: BMI
Dear Mike:
We were extremely disappointed and upset to read the announcement of BMI’s sale to New Mountain Capitol.
Songwriters have real questions and deserve real answers before any further action is taken. While we appreciated you responding to our letter, all of our questions went unanswered.
Your response was that distributions went up last year. Of course distributions went up – all PROs’ revenue went up. This does not answer any of our questions. And, it does not explain where the $145m EBITDA (as reported by Billboard today) came from and why that money was not distributed to songwriters.
We understand that a deal has been agreed, but has not closed. Prior to taking any other action, we are giving you another opportunity to provide songwriters with real, substantive answers to the questions we posed.
If you do not want to provide us with written answers, we are happy to meet with you as a group.
Sincerely,
Black Music Action CoalitionMusic Artists CoalitionSongwriters of North AmericaSAG-AFTRAArtist Rights Alliance
BMI has accepted an offer to sell to New Mountain Capital, a private equity firm that has been quietly looking at music assets over the last few years, according to sources. It’s unclear if the deal has been signed yet.
Sources suggest that New Mountain Capital will pay about $1.7 billion for BMI which claims $145 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in its first year acting as a for-profit entity, which was announced last October. That suggests that BMI — aka Broadcast Music Inc. — is trading on a nearly 12 times EBITDA multiple. Since BMI has no debt, it’s likely that New Mountain Capital will use a healthy level of debt to finance the deal.
According to New Mountain Capital’s website, the firm has $40 billion in assets under management and chases a “growth-oriented, value-add investment approach, rather than reliance on excessive risk, as the best path to high and consistent long-term returns.” The firm has made investments in such industries as software, business services, information and data, logistics and financial services among a few other sectors.
Besides New Mountain, sources say, bidders included Apollo Global Management, Brookfield Asset Management and its music investment Primary Wave, and RedBird Capital Partners. New Mountain and Brookfield/Primary Wave became the finalist, until BMI accepted New Mountain’s offer. Moreover, sources add that Moelis & Co. has been acting as an advisor to New Mountain while BMI has acknowledged that it hired Goldman Sachs to explore a strategic partnership.
BMI first put itself up for sale last year and at the time said it was switching from a not-for-profit operation to a for-profit company. In its fiscal 2022, before it switched to a for-profit entity, BMI reported that it collected $1.573 billion, while distributions totaled $1.471 billion. While the company has stated that the move is being made to benefit its affiliates and will allow the company to spend more money on developing technology and infrastructure so it can better services and songwriters, the strategy shift has caused consternation among songwriters and publishers.
Last week, a group of songwriters and creative advocates wrote a letter to BMI asking how such a move would benefit songwriters and questioning whether the profit would come at the expense of songwriter payments. The groups that signed the letter were Black Music Artists Coalition; Music Artists Coalition; Songwriters of North America; SAG-Aftra and Artists Rights Alliance.
Since its formation in 1940, BMI has been operating as a not-for-profit organization, paying out all of the money it collects to songwriters and publishers, even though it was a private company. In response to the songwriter and creator organization letter, BMI president Mike O’Neill said that because of its first year acting as a for-profit entity, it has allowed the company to upgrade its services portal, including new dashboards, among several other initiatives. He also said in pursuing a BMI sale, the company “would ensure that any partner embraces our mission of prioritizing the interests of songwriters, including their financial success.
BMI declined to comment for this story, and other firms mentioned didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment or couldn’t be reached.