Music Row One Sheet Early July 2018

Nashville Music News Roundup

Scroll down to read these Music Row One Sheet news items

  • Larry Gatlin wants his stolen GRAMMY® back
  • Do you have unclaimed royalties out there?
  • Summer NAMM attendance up 5%
  • US/UK country pop duo take the ‘Top Down’
  • Garth’s ‘All Day Long’ most-added at Country Radio

Scroll down to read these Music Row One Sheet news items

Larry Gatlin wants his stolen GRAMMY® back

Larry Gatlin

Have you seen Larry Gatlin’s GRAMMY®?  If you know where it is, Larry wants to talk to you. In 1977, Larry Gatlin, eldest of the Gatlin Brothers, took home a GRAMMY® Award for ‘Best Country Song’ thanks to his self-penned classic hit, ‘Broken Lady.’

In an exclusive interview with The Tennessean, Gatlin reveals his prized award was actually stolen from the Gatlin Bros. Music City restaurant in the Mall of America in the 1990s. Now, two decades later, he’s on a mission to get it back.  The country legend is promising a monetary reward for the safe return of his golden gramophone, and he won’t notify authorities.

“I’ll give you a written statement that I won’t prosecute you,” Gatlin tells The Tennessean’s Cindy Watts. “You can just say you bought it at a pawn shop.” The possessor of Gatlin’s gold can email assistant@absolutepublicity.com to make arrangements to return the trophy and receive the reward.

Do you have unclaimed royalties out there?

If your recordings are out there on any of the digital platforms, it’s possible (it’s likely!) that you are owed money.  Okay, it’s probably not a LOT of money, but it is legally yours and you should be able to claim it.

You might want to check out SoundExchange that collects and distributes digital performance royalties on behalf of rights owners and licensees. So far, SoundExchange has paid out about $5 billion in royalties from recordings played on digital radio including Pandora’s free tier and SiriusXM.

Payments are made to the recording artist who receives 45% of the amount due, the rights owner (often that’s the record label) receives 50%, and 5% goes into a separate account to pay ‘non-featured artists.’ SoundExchange retains a small percentage as an admin fee before distributing funds.

Remember, SoundExchange only collects royalties owed on sound recordings, so those royalties only go to the rights holders of the recording, not to the song’s publisher or songwriters.  Publishers and songwriters receive royalties via their Performing Rights Organization such as ASCAP, BMI or SESAC.  (In the case of some indie artists, the songwriter, publisher, recording artist and label might all be one single person.)

To learn more about SoundExchange or to register, go to the SoundExchange website.  You can read a helpful article by Keith Hatschek on the DiscMakers blog here.

Summer NAMM attendance up 5%

Summer NAMM Make Music Experience. Photo credit:Jason Davis/Getty Images/NAMM

Summer NAMM was another success for both the exhibitors and the members of the music community who attended the show at Nashville’s Music City Center, June 28-30.

The show, which counted 1,600 brands presented by over 500 exhibitors, demonstrated the optimism of the annual mid-year industry gathering. Exhibitors included a dynamic mix of top-name brands. The National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) is a not-for-profit association with a mission to strengthen the $17 billion music products industry. NAMM is comprised of approximately 10,300 members located in 104 countries and regions.

Saturday June 30 ushered in the Make Music Experience (MME). Formerly known as ‘Music Industry Day,’ MME welcomed a variety of music makers into Music City Center. Attendees enjoyed curated education from Nashville insiders, and a stream of performances from Lillie Mae, The Delta Saints, MONA, and others.  See a full report on Summer NAMM here.

Eric Church’s brother passes away

Condolences To Eric Church and his family.  Eric’s brother Brandon passed away Friday, June 29. Brandon was a co-writer on some of Eric’s songs. In lieu of flowers, the family requested that donations be made to the Brandon E. Church Memorial Scholarship Fund here.  In the first few days, more than $22,000 has been donated to the Fund.

US/UK country pop duo take the ‘Top Down’

Brown and Gray are Sam Gray and Kaci Brown.  Gray, a singer/songwriter from the east coast of England, has over 100 million streams and nine solo releases.  Kaci Brown, a Texas native, is a graduate of Barbara Orbison’s Nashville-based ‘Still Working Music’ and is ASCAPs youngest-ever female affiliate, having signed to both at the age of 11.  She released her first solo album at the age of 17.

Brown & Gray sing ‘Top Down.’ Photo: YouTube

Brown and Gray’s 5-song EP, ‘Salt in the Coffee,’ includes their breakout hit, ‘Top Down.’ The track has racked up more than 3 million streams, 2 million YouTube plays and 25,000 downloads.  The EP was recorded in Nashville, London and Los Angeles and is available through all digital retailers and streaming services.  Watch the official video for ‘Top Down’ at YouTube here.

Garth’s ‘All Day Long’ most-added at Country Radio

Garth on stage, Bridgestone Arena. Photo credit: Preshias Harris

Garth Brooks’ latest single, ‘All Day Long’ was the ‘most-added’ song at Country Radio in the last week of June. The track debuted at No. 21 on Billboard and No. 28 on Mediabase chart. ‘All Day Long’ is also available to stream on Amazon Music.

The song is the first track taken from Brooks’ upcoming studio album to be released next year.  Garth Brooks is the reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year, having now been awarded this honor six times, a first for any artist.

Garth just finished the three and a half year long, ‘Garth Brooks World Tour with Trisha Yearwood.’  The tour smashed records previously held by such acts as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and even Garth himself.

Music Row One Sheet copyright (c) 2018 Preshias Harris and Nashville Music Line LLC