Industry Ink: Change The Conversation, Music Biz Conference, Songshine Media

Next Installment Of Change The Conversation To Discuss Media Coverage Of Women In Music

The upcoming installment of speaker series Change The Conversation, titled “On The Front Line: Reporting on Women In Music,” will delve into the topic of reporting of women in music. The event, moderated by journalist Beverly Keel, will feature a conversation with music journalists Ann Powers, Jewly Hight and Marissa Moss.

The event will be held tonight (Tuesday, Jan. 22) at BMI Nashville, beginning at 5:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public, and is sponsored by BMI and Pinnacle.

Terra Bella Renews Deal With Songshine Media

Country music duo Terra Bella has renewed their deal with Songshine Media for PR representation. They have released their newest single, “Middle Of Nowhere USA,” to country radio.

Music Biz To Honor The Orchard’s Richard Gottehrer

Richard Gottehrer

The Music Business Association (Music Biz) has announced Richard Gottehrer, co-founder of independent distributor The Orchard, as the recipient of its 2019 Outstanding Achievement Award. Gottehrer will receive the Award at the Music Biz 2019 Conference’s Awards & Hall of Fame Dinner on Tuesday, May 7th at the JW Marriott Nashville. He will also present a keynote address during the Independent Artist & Songwriter Forum, powered by Songtrust.

His influence on the industry began in the 1960s, the decade in which he penned the iconic “My Boyfriend’s Back” and produced the hit “Hang on Sloopy.” As part of The Strangeloves, he brought the world the classic track “I Want Candy.” In the late ’60s, Gottehrer, with Seymour Stein co-founded Sire Records – the company that would rocket the Ramones, the Talking Heads and Madonna to stardom. After leaving Sire, he worked with Blondie, Richard Hell and other acts in the CBGB Punk scene. Gottehrer also produced The Go-Go’s, putting his polish on their chart-topper Beauty and the Beat. He continued writing during this time, penning songs for David Bowie, The J. Geils Band, and Jerry Lee Lewis. In the 1990s, Gottehrer, alongside partner Scott Cohen visualized a digital distribution platform that would harness the latest technology to empower up-and-coming artists in the independent music community. The Orchard was founded in 1997 out of this vision to give indie artists, in Gottehrer’s words, “A Place to Grow.”

From the beginning, artists who signed with The Orchard agreed to let the company store, deliver, and supply their music digitally. At the time – four years before the iTunes store would see the light of day – this business strategy was pioneering and highly unusual. As the digital revolution became embraced by the music industry, The Orchard expanded beyond music into digital distribution of film and video. Today, it is the world’s largest indie music distributor, which works with artists including Jason Isbell, G Herbo, Ozuna, John Prine, Kelsea Ballerini and Jorja Smith.