News for Songwriters about the music business; recording artists looking for songs.

06/29/09 – Chrysalis Music Group USA has agreed to purchase the music catalogue of writer/artist Richard Marx, who co-wrote with Keith Urban the song “Everybody,” which was recorded by Urban. In addition, Marx has written 37 top 30 hits, including 13 number ones.

06/26/09 – Bug Music has launched a new record label, along with one of its star rock acts, Nashville’s Kings Of Leon. The first release will be The Features’ Some Kind of Salvation. Bug is a publishing company noted for administration of song copyrights, but recently has been expanding into a more active role. A recent deal to bring in Roger Murrah, long a Nashville songwriter and publisher accents the changes.  Murrah staff writer John Henderson has been actively co-writing with our ParMusic staff writer, Danny Simpson. Their output has been getting rave reviews in the Music Community.

Sara Evans has struck a four-book publishing deal with Nashville’s Thomas Nelson Publishing Company and plans to release her first inspirational novel later this year. She describes it as "an emotional, Southern-flavored, multigenerational tale, featuring a compelling love story."

Tracy Lawrence’s new inspirational country CD, The Rock, debuted in the Top 20 country albums and Top 5 Christian albums. It is the third album from Lawrence's own independent label, Rocky Comfort Records.

04/18/09 – Brad and Kimberly Paisley announced the birth of their second child, a son. The healthy baby boy was born April 17 at a Nashville area hospital. (Hospitals are never named in these stories, and Nashville hospitals even check in stars under assumed names for privacy reasons). Mother and baby are resting comfortably. The Paisleys also have an older son, William Huckleberry – “Huck” – born in February 2007.

Tim McGraw is set to co-star with Sandra Bullock in the movie The Blind Side, it was announced by Alcon Entertainment. Shooting for the movie is scheduled to begin at the end of the month in Atlanta, Ga. McGraw will play Sean Touhy, husband of Sandra Bullock’s character, Leigh Anne. The film is based on the best selling novel by Michael Lewis, The Blind Side: Evolution of the Game, and tells the true story of Michael Oher, a homeless African-American teen from a broken household who is taken in by a well-to-do white family that sees extraordinary promise in him. Oher’s real life success will be highlighted next month when he is expected to be a first round pick at the NFL Draft.

The 44th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards drove CBS-TV's ratings to #1 for the night and #3 for the week, again proving the super popularity of Country music. Nielsen numbers showed a 21% increase in viewers over last year's show, and the biggest audience since 1998.

It seems that the Big Machine/Valory Records team has another big act on its hands. Already home to Garth Brooks (Big Machine/Pearl), Jack Ingram, Taylor Swift, Trisha Yearwood, Jewel, Reba McEntire, Justin Moore, and Jimmy Wayne, the labels now have Kate & Kacey on the road and on the way up. They’re set to perform the National Anthem at tonight's (4/18) Subway Fresh Fit 500 Spring Cut Series Race at Phoenix International Raceway. The event, including the singing of the National Anthem, will be covered live on Fox.

04/03/09 – The 44^th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards are set to go Sunday night (4/5) with an all-star line-up of entertainers and presenters. George Strait is set to receive the Artist of the Decade award and will follow up with a concert of his own. Reba will host, with patter co-written by Nashville DJ/Country DJ Hall of Fame member Gerry House. Full details available at  http://www.acmcountry.com/home/index.php

03/01/09 – Nashville keeps expending its influence on the music business. Taylor Swift, who’s huge in Country, regularly crosses over into other genres and recently reached No. 1 on pop radio. According to her label, Big Machine Records, “Love Story” is the first country crossover to hit #1 on CHR/Top 40 radio in the 16-year history of Billboard’s Nielsen BDS chart. The song is also the country song with the most paid downloads in history.

And then there’s Apple’s iTunes making an enhanced effort to market Nashville music by hiring Scott Heuerman to handle Nashville-based Country and Christian music lifestyle marketing. Heuerman has been Director, Marketing at Warner Bros. Nashville.

02/04/09 – ACM Partners With GAC, Brings Fans Into The Process… For the first time ever, the 3 newcomer categories for the ACM's – Top New Female Vocalist, Top New Male Vocalist and the Top New Vocal Duo or Group will be opened up to interactive fan voting through GAC-TV.com. The 44th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas is set for Sunday, April 5th, broadcast on CBS-TV.

 The Country Music Hall Of Fame is adding 3 of Country’s greatest artists to its roster. They are Roy Clark, Charlie McCoy and Barbara Mandrell. Clark and Mandrell are well-known as performing artists and television stars. McCoy is best known as a studio musician with credits on records by Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Gordon Lightfoot, Kris Kristofferson, and many others.

01/28/09 – Our chief song plugger, Dan Hodges, just got back from Cannes, France, where he attended an international conference of music business proffesionals. He made some great contacts for us and all the songwriters who work with us. One very important contact was with a Netherlands music group looking for co-writing opportunities with American writers. That could open major opportunities in Europe for all our writers.

Brenda Lee, a member of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame, the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rockabilly Hall of Fame still has an award she’s never won. Until now. A Grammy. This year she gets it. Now the Academy will present her with a Lifetime Achievement Award in the upcoming Grammy Awards. Long overdue, but congrats to Brenda.

01/20/09 – More Nashville talent at the Inauguration celebration: Drummer Wes Little, after performing with Joe Nichols on Saturday night, headed for Washington to accompany Beyonce as she serenades the Obamas with "At Last" during their opening dance at the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball, taking place in the Washington Convention Center. Faith Hill is also on the program, along with Mariah Carey, Alicia Keys, Shakira, Sting and Stevie Wonder. ABC Television broadcasts at 8pm eastern.

01/13/09 – Nashville recording artists Garth Brooks, Sheryl Crow and Jennifer Nettles are among the initial talent lineup announced for We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration At The Lincoln Memorial. It’s the Opening Celebration for the Presidential Inaugural, to be presented on Sunday, January 18 (7:00-9:00 p.m. ET/PT).  The event will be free and open to the public, and broadcast on HBO.

Brad Paisley extends his record-setting run of #1 singles to 9 consecutive, non-seasonal chart-toppers, with “Start A Band” – a feat unmatched by any other country artist in the 19-year history of Nielsen BDS-monitored airplay. This one brings his total #1 hits to 13.

Taylor Swift will have a guest star role in an upcoming episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, on CBS-TV. Taylor will play Haley Jones, a teenaged girl whose family runs a seedy Vegas motel. Over the course of a year, Haley goes through a series of changes that have tragic consequences. The episode is scheduled for March 5.

Recording Artists Looking for Songs:

Following is a partial list of songwriting opportunities from recording artists who are doing a concentrated song search NOW for recording sessions coming up in the near future. If you have songs or lyrics that fit, send them to us ASAP. Read the requirements, then look at the end of this page to see how to get your work to us. If you already have songs with us, they will be pitched where appropriate.

12701 -- FEMALE ARTIST, well-established on major label, looking for songs with mature, strong lyrics. Needs uptempo.

12702 -- MALE ARTIST, major label. This deep-voiced star has many hits behind him, now looking for another radio hit.

12703 -- MALE ARTIST, young, fairly new to major label, but with 2 major hits already, looking for more.

12704 -- MALE DUO, major label. These guys have plenty of hits, now looking for more great songs.

12705 -- FEMALE ARTIST, major label. This artist is definitely at the top of the pop-country hit makers. Now working on another smash album, needs songs that work accordingly. Tough to get a cut here, but our top song plugger has done it before. Could your song be next?

12706 -- MALE ARTIST, new to major label, looking for fun uptempos and ballads ala Kenny Chesney. Could this be your chance to get in on the ground floor and grow with a new artist who now has a major label behind him?

40701-- MALE GROUP, new on major label, now working on first album. Looking for uptempo and ballad hits.

40404-- FEMALE ARTIST, major label. Needs big love ballad.

40405-- MALE ARTIST, indie label. This artist needs fresh, new country-pop songs to get this new album jump-started. As we always say, an opportunity like this is a great way for emerging writers to jump-start their own careers.

20700-- MALE ARTIST, major label. A major Nashville star with tons of hit songs. He has recorded a wide variety of songs, from humor to uptempo to big ballads... from traditional country, to pop crossover. It's tough competition because every major songwriter would love to have a cut on him.

If you have songs or lyrics to fit any of the above listings, send them to us now. Please indicate which listings you're sending material for by placing the numbers at the top of your lyric sheets. When we receive your material, we'll send details on how we work with songwriters to get songs to the right music business decision makers. Also note that this is a partial listing. We're looking for many others, so please don't hesitate to send great songs at any time.

Important: You do not need to send professional demo recordings to us. We accept your songs or lyrics just as you have created them.

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