Spirit Music Nashville Inks Multi-Faceted Deal With Zach Crowell

Front Row (L-R): Michelle Davey (Administration Coordinator/Office Manager, Spirit Music Nashville) and Billy Lynn (VP, Creative, Spirit Music Nashville); Middle Row (L-R): Daniel Hill (President, Spirit Music Nashville), Derek Crownover (Attorney, Dickinson Wright PLLC), Zach Crowell, Kelly Bolton (VP, Creative, Tape Room Music), Blain Rhodes (GM, Tape Room Music) and Chip Petree (Attorney, Ritholz Levy Fields LLP). Back Row (L-R): Brian Bradford (Sr. Director of Administration, Spirit Music Nashville), and Cam Caldwell (Attorney, Dickinson Wright PLLC).

Spirit Music Nashville has signed Nashville writer Zach Crowell. As part of this deal, Spirit Music Nashville has also acquired Crowell’s I Love Pizza Music publishing catalog and has formed a co-publishing venture with Crowell and Ashley Gorley‘s Tape Room Music to encompass Crowell’s future works.

Finally, Spirit and Crowell have formed a partnership to allow Crowell to sign and develop talent to his own joint venture under Spirit Music Nashville.

“The opportunity to work with Zach Crowell is a fantastic honor for a publisher,” said Spirit Music Group Chairman Jon Singer. “Zach is an enormously talented, go-to hit-maker who has made many friends in the Nashville music community. We are honored to partner with Ashley Gorley’s Tape Room Music on our deal with Zach and look forward to putting our global resources behind them. The entire worldwide team at Spirit Music Group looks forward to what we will accomplish together.”

“Zach is one of the brightest talents in music today. His abilities both as a songwriter and as a producer are remarkable, and his many achievements and accolades in both fields are a testament to his gifts. The Spirit Music Nashville team and I are proud to be a part of the next chapter of Zach’s career, and we are thrilled to partner on this with Ashley Gorley and Tape Room Music,” said Daniel Hill, President, Spirit Music Nashville.

“I’m fired up to continue working with Ashley Gorley and Tape Room Music and excited to bring my catalog to Spirit – they have a great team and I couldn’t ask for those songs to be in better hands,” said Crowell.

“Zach and I couldn’t be happier to be working with Spirit Music Group through this new venture,” said Gorley. “Their passion for Zach and the belief they have in Tape Room Music is exciting. We appreciate their creativity and support in this partnership.”

Crowell has earned nine No. 1 songs as a writer, and seven No. 1 songs as a producer. His chart-toppers as a writer include Sam Hunt’s “Body Like A Back Road” and “House Party”; Carrie Underwood’s “Heartbeat,” “Church Bells,” and “Dirty Laundry”: Dustin Lynch’s “Where It’s At (Yep Yep)” and “Hell of a Night”; Cole Swindell’s “Middle of a Memory”; Billy Currington’s “Do I Make You Wanna”; and Luke Bryan’s “Sunrise, Sunburn, Sunset.” Crowell earned the 2018 ASCAP Country Song of the Year for Hunt’s “Body Like A Back Road,” as well as the three CMA Triple Play awards, among many other accolades.

The signing marks the latest in a series of moves by Spirit, including a $350 million recapitalization of Spirit Music Group led by Singer and business partner Ross Cameron in January.

In addition to his independent success, Crowell has been a long-time collaborator with Gorley and the two have co-written numerous songs together. Gorley, one of the most successful songwriters in Nashville history, is credited with writing 39 No. 1 singles. Crowell first began working with Gorley in 2010 when he was the first writer signed to Gorley’s publishing venture Tape Room Music.