🎶Inside the Industry🎶
NASHVILLE (CelebrityAccess) – Riser House Publishing has renewed its agreement with hit songwriter Dallas Wilson. Wilson has written songs for Dylan Scott, LoCash, Mitchell Tenpenny, Lainey Wilson, Jimmie Allen, and more. His penned songs have amassed over 450 million streams and sync placements.
Wilson recently received his first BMI Award for co-writing Scott’s No. 1 hit “Nobody” and currently has two songs charting at country radio, including “Heart Like A Truck” (Lainey) and “Can’t Have Mine” (Scott).
“Dallas is the epitome of what we look for in a creative,” adds Riser House SVP of A&R Brandon Perdue. “He is literally a dream to work alongside, as he is always thinking ahead, showing up prepared, and bringing a positive vibe into every session and meeting. We are beyond excited to keep building on the momentum he has created and look forward to celebrating many more milestones in his career.”
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LONDON (CelebrityAccess) – Music Venue Trust (MVT) has announced the inaugural recipients of its significant new funding campaign, which provides monies for UK grassroots music venues.
The Pipeline Investment Fund was supported by members of the Music Venues Alliance and was funded mainly by donations from ticket sales of MVT’s recent “Revive Live Programming,” which was an alliance with The National Lottery.
Small-scale grant applications were invited from UK-based grassroots music venues to support two areas of work:
- Staff and training, workforce diversification, skills development, succession planning, and community ties
- Small-scale capital projects (sound, lights, ventilation, access, etc.)
The first set of venue recipients are:
Alexander’s Live (Chester)
Venue38 (Ayr)
The Louisiana (Bristol)
The Grayston Unity (Halifax)
Retro (Manchester)
Chats Palace (London)
Backstage At The Green (Kinross)
Dorothy Pax (Sheffield)
Servant Jazz Quarters (London)
Snug (Atherton)
Three Wise Monkeys (Colchester)
MVT is actively seeking further donations, particularly from the wider music industry, to maintain and expand the Pipeline Investment Fund and make it a permanent source of support for grassroots music venues.
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NEW YORK (CelebrityAccess) – Hit songwriter Xplicit (aka Eskeerdo) has announced two major deals, signing with Sony Music Publishing (SMP) and Electric Feel (EF) for management. The financial details were not disclosed.
Xplicit has co-written with and for Justin Bieber, Flo Rida, Big Sean, Rihanna, and more. He said on the two deals:
“I’m excited to call EF my new home for management. I’ve known Austin and Anthony for a long time, and it felt like the next best step for me in my career. I’m looking forward to being the latest addition to an amazing roster filled with some of the best artists, producers, and songwriters in the business. I’m looking forward to being the latest addition to an amazing roster filled with some of the best artists, producers, and songwriters in the business. After knowing Katie and admiring her work as an executive for nearly ten years, partnering with SMP and working with her directly is something I am looking forward to.”
Xplicit is in good company as EF is home to Post Malone, 24kGoldn, iann Dior, Louis Bell, Carter Lang, and Billy Walsh.
Sony Music Publishing, Katie Welle, SVP Creative, said: “Not only can Xplicit write in any genre, but he brings his best game to every opportunity and is extremely dedicated to writing great songs – his diverse discography of hits is the proof.”
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LONDON (CelebrityAccess) – Huxley, the globally connected partner to talent, brands, and organizations, has promoted George Georgopoulos to Director of Brand Partnerships and has hired Kerry McKenna as Senior Agent.
The agency has played a crucial role in global partnerships for Charli XCX, Grimes, Maisie Williams, The 1975, and more.
McKenna joins from KEEP, where she worked on brand partnerships for Lana Del Rey and Dua Lipa. She will work with Georgopoulos, Sophie Jones (Brand Coordinator), and Anna Meacham (Founder) on brand partnerships for Huxley’s talent roster, including Clairo and Bjork.
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LONDON (CelebrityAccess) – BMG has acquired the music interests of Grammy-nominated blues singer/songwriter Chris Rea.
The acquisition builds on Rea’s existing relationship with BMG, which released and published his 2017 album Road Songs For Lovers, his highest-charting album in nearly 20 years.
The deal includes his royalty interests in 17 studio albums, including hit tracks such as “Driving Home For Christmas,” “On The Beach,” “Road To Hell,” and “Fool (If You Think It’s Over).”
Alistair Norbury, BMG president of repertoire and marketing UK, said: “Chris Rea’s integrity as a musician and his commitment to his art is legendary. BMG is proud to become custodian of his music interests. Chris’s work is one of the foundation stones of British blues rock.”
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LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess) – Avex USA has hired Shilpa Das as Vice President, Head of Publishing and Label Administration. Based in Los Angeles, Das will oversee administration for Avex USA Publishing and the Avex USA label – SELENE.
Avex USA launched in 2020 and oversees SELENE, Avex USA Publishing, and its future music investment fund, Avex House.
The company’s Publishing division represents J. Que, Will Jay, and, through its joint venture with Brandon Silverstein’s S10 Entertainment, Justin Bieber’s close collaborator HARV, and The Kid Laroi’s collaborator Cxdy.
Before Avex, Das spent eleven years with Reach Music Publishing, managing copyright administration and royalties. She began her career at eMusic, working in admin and licensing.
In February, Avex USA struck a partnership with Sony Music Publishing to provide worldwide administration services to Avex USA’s catalog and roster of songwriters and producers.
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(CelebrityAccess) – Joseph Lever and his brother Tobias have launched Two Suns Creative, a new visual content agency for the music and events industry. The agency will specialize in designing and producing cutting-edge digital assets, including lyric videos, live visuals, visualizers, and album cover artwork.
As a consultant for the recorded music business, with clients including Ministry Of Sound, Sony Music UK, Universal Music UK, and Warner Music UK, Tobias has worked on campaigns for artists including Celeste, David Guetta, Doja Cat, James Bay, John Legend, The Chainsmokers, Louis Tomlinson and Mabel.
Joseph will oversee the company’s business development alongside his role as Head of Events for Full Fat Events.
Aside from the core design business, Two Suns will also offer educational programs through the Two Suns Journal. This will include tips and tutorials for other visual creatives seeking to work in collaboration with the music industry.
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NYC (CelebrityAccess) – PIAS and Universal Music Group (UMG) have revealed their first partnership under their recently announced worldwide alliance. Beginning January 1, 2023, rock record label, Spinefarm Records will join the PIAS Group’s roster of indie labels and will be distributed worldwide through PIAS’ services division.
Spinefarm (acquired by UMG in 2002) will continue to operate as a standalone label out of NYC under the direction of Jonas Nachsin.
Spinefarm’s current artist roster includes Bullet For My Valentine (over 3 billion streams), Atreyu, Airbourne, Killing Joke, and Anti-Flag, as well as more recent signings such as Sleep Token, Creeper, Brkn Love, Dead Poet Society, While She Sleeps, Kid Kapichi and Dayseeker.
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NASHVILLE (CelebrityAccess) – The unified platform Picklejar has expanded the company’s ticketing services to include fan experiences inside the Picklejar app and on its private, live-streaming channel, Picklejar+ starting December 2022.
The company’s platform provides a way for venues, organizations, individual artists, and promoters selling tickets to offer a more efficientlower-costst option combined with fan intelligence.
Fans can manage ticket purchases through the PickleJar Live app and engage with artists on stage and live streams. Similarly, organizers can use their PickleJar Dashboard to better connect with fans and customers by sending in-app notifications and conducting email marketing.
PickleJar has recently expanded these new features to Austin, Nashville, and South Florida venues. Venues currently using PickleJar’s ticketing platform will have complete control and real-time event management, including the event description, ticket quantity, ticket prices, and more.
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LONDON (CelebrityAccess) – AEG Presents UK has announced Chris Wareing as Senior Vice President of Global Touring and has added Paris Harding as its latest promoter. Both join after numerous years at SJM.
In the press release, Wareing (during his time as a promoter) has worked with Dave, Travis Scott, and others and founded the Gods of Rap tour. He joins AEG, ready to “expand on the company’s hip-hop and rap presence globally.”
Harding will be tasked with expanding AEG’s current offering and assisting in its development plans.
Speaking about the appointment, AEG Presents UK CEO Steve Homer said: “Having worked alongside Chris for a number of years and admired his presence from afar, I couldn’t be more thrilled to have him join our team. He’ll be working closely with myself and my colleague Gary Gersh, [president of global touring and Talent, AEG Presents] at an international level to drive our footprint in these important genres forward. It’s rare to come across talent at the level he and Paris exhibit, and I couldn’t think of a better way to close out a stellar year.”
