OMG! I’m A Songwriter Celebrates International Women’s Day With Panel

Pictured (L-R): Robin Palmer, Tracy Gershon, Katie Kerkhover, Kendall Lettow, Mary Kutter

OMG! I’m A Songwriter, a grassroots songwriter support community in Nashville, celebrated International Women’s Day at BMI on Thursday (March 7) with a Women’s Day Panel featuring Change the Conversation co-founder, Tracy Gershon, SMACKSongs’ Robin Palmer, Sony/ATV’s Katie Kerkhover, and peermusic’s Kendall Lettow.

Hosted by Mary Kutter, OMG! I’m A Songwriter’s co-founder, the panel centered around being a woman in the music industry, both as an artist and songwriter as well as a businessperson.

Gershon, whose career includes time in publishing, A&R, concert promotion, management and more, provided some insight on the challenges facing women in the music business.  The Change the Conversation co-founder currently works with Grammy-winner Brandi Carlile at Atlas Music Publishing, and also manages Natalie Stovall with Red Light Management.

“When I first moved to town, I never heard ‘female vs male,'” Gershon said. “I’ve got to tell you, it’s terrible right now.

“One thing that [Change the Conversation] did is we got a bunch of young female artists in one room and said ‘look, you guys have been told that there’s one slot at a record label and that makes you inherently very competitive,’ so what we have to say to everybody is that a win for one is a win for all and you guys have to support each other. If one person is doing well, go out there and support them. Show up at the showcases, Tweet, do all the stuff. We have really seen this camaraderie that we thought was not existing between young female artists; and that’s a start,” she said.

Now Creative Manager at Sony/ATV, Katie Kerkhover spoke to being a businesswoman and being a female artist on the road. She learned from playing fiddle in both Sara Evans and Billy Currington’s bands. “Touring is a very male-dominated part of the industry,” she said. “Not only the band members, but the crew. You have to do a lot out on the road to make sure that you’re mindful [being a young woman.]

“Work hard,” Kerkhover continued. “Be good at what you do and work really hard. Be the best, regardless of male of female. At the end of the day talent, hard work, attitude, drive; those things don’t have a gender.”

Robin Palmer, who currently serves as Senior Vice President – Creative at SMACKSongs, shared what inspires her to sign new acts. “I think it’s just talent,” Palmer said. “I do believe women have a harder time in the industry, they just really do. We [SMACK] take risks, but we take calculated risks. These are all people that we’re totally, 100 percent behind. I signed Kylie [Morgan] because of that.”

Kendall Lettow, Creative Manager at peermusic, shared about some promising female songwriters that she admires. “Emily Weisband; I started working with her when she had a songwriting internship at THiS Music,” she said. “She was just immediately vulnerable. She never blinked an eye, she never overthought what other people wanted to hear, she was just very much like ‘this is what I want to share today. This is who I am.’

“And then Nora Collins, I worked with her at MV2 Entertainment,” Lettow continued. “Nora is just the most prepared human I’ve ever met in my life. She knew she was responsible for her own career at the end of the day. She’s always been an amazingly hard worker.”

OMG! I’m A Songwriter posts daily lineups of songwriter rounds in Nashville on their Instagram (@omgimasongwriter), as well as host their own weekly round at Tin Roof on Thursdays. They also just started an OMG! I’m A Songwriter podcast.