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

03/04/08--Kenny Chesney Leads ACM Nominations…Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood have announced the nominees or the 43rd Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, set for Sun. May 18, live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The press conference was held at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville. They also annnounced that this year’s ACM Entertainer of the Year category will be fan voted.

Top nominees are: Kenny Chesney, 11 nominations; Rodney Atkins, 6 nominations; Brad Paisley, Big & Rich and Sugarland 4 each; Miranda Lambert and Taylor Swift, 3 each. Find a complete list at the ACM web site, http://www.acmcountry.com/content/index.php.

02/08/08--Country Stars Carrie Underwood, Rascal Flatts, Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley and Taylor Swift were all in the top 20 album sales numbers for 2007. And that’s not just Country, but in the tops of all genres. Carrie and Brad will be performing on the Grammy Awards this year, while McGraw and Dierks Bentley are the most-nominated Country Stars, with 4 noms each. With that many noms, surely the Hollywood powers that be should have Dierks performing, but we realize the time limitations. Good news: Taylor will appear as a presenter.

02/06/08--Arthur Buenahora has joined Universal Records South as VP of A&R. Buenahora will report to Mark Wright. Buenahora spent two years as senior director of A&R for Capitol Records Nashville. Before joining Capitol, he was with Sony/ATV/Tree publishing where he had 100 plus cuts from the company's catalog, including 10 No. 1 singles.

New label, Black River Music Group/Nashville has announced the signing of singer/songwriter Sarah Darling. Darling is the second artist signed to the label. Previously, the label signed Jeff Bates, who will release the label's first single later this month. Three years ago, Darling gained national recognition as a finalist on the Wayne Newton-hosted TV show, "The Entertainer."

Two-time GRAMMY winner, ACM Top Female Vocalist, and back-to-back CMA Female Vocalist of the Year Carrie Underwood achieves a historic first as her five-week #1 smash, “Before He Cheats,” becomes the first country song to earn RIAA certification as a Double-Platinum Digital Single. At the same time, her multi-award-winning country debut, “Jesus, Take the Wheel,” has earned a Platinum Digital Single certification. The Digital Single milestone for “Before He Cheats” reflects the amazing and continued success of the song, which earned multiple nominations for the upcoming 50th Annual GRAMMY Awards, including Best Country Song and Song of the Year (for writers Josh Kear and Chris Tompkins).

Eighteen-time Grammy winner Vince Gill will host ABC News Radio’s Grammy Guide 2008 as part of ABC’s coverage of the 50th Annual Primetime Grammy Awards, set for Sunday, February 10, 2008. Gill is nominated in two categories this year, including the prestigious “Album of the Year” category. The one-hour ABC News Radio special is a preview of music’s biggest night of the year, held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

01/20/08 You may have heard that EMI Group (Capitol Records, EMI Publishing) is laying off as many as one-third of its 6,000 employees as part of a restructuring. But songwriters should note that most of the job cuts are expected to come from EMI's recorded-music operations, not its music publishing. In other words, the songs signed by the publishing side of the business are far more valuable than the records. EMI is the largest music publisher in the world. It was bought out and taken private last year. The new owners are cutting out the fat, pure and simple.

CD album sales are down, according to most reports. But download sales are up sharply. It’s a matter of people changing from buying a CD with 10 songs they don’t want, just to get two songs they like, to downloading just the songs they want.

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.

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 alread, 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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