Author Archive: Sarah Skates
Sarah Skates has worked in the music business for more than a decade and is a longtime contributor to MusicRow.
Tech Tracks: Kazaa, Rock Band, Twitter
Kazaa relaunched today (7/20) in a new form; morphed from an illegal file-trading service to a legal download subscription outfit. For $20/month, users get unlimited downloads of over 1 million tracks from all four major labels. The downside of the service is that the DRM tracks cannot be transferred to portable devices and can only […]
Category: Featured
Urban Signs With Universal Publishing
David Renzer, Chairman & CEO, Universal Music Publishing Group, and Pat Higdon, President, UMPG Nashville, today announced the signing of a worldwide publishing agreement with Keith Urban. UMPG will publish Urban’s catalogue throughout the world, including his recently-released fifth studio album, Defying Gravity, which topped both the Billboard Top 200 and Country Album charts upon […]
Category: Featured, Publishing
AMA To Honor Sam Bush
Sam Bush will receive the Lifetime Achievement for Instrumentalist award at the 8th Annual Americana Honors & Awards ceremony, presented by the Gibson Foundation, on Thurs., Sept. 17 at the historic Ryman Auditorium. As co-founder and leader of the seminal progressive bluegrass band New Grass Revival for 18 years, Bush was among the first purveyors […]
Category: Artist, Featured, Organizations
Wiles, Evans Announce Do Write Music
Dwight Wiles, President of Smith Wiles & Co., today (7/20) formally announced Do Write Music, his joint venture with music publishing veteran Marghie Evans. The company specializes in all aspects of music publishing administration and clearance services for songwriters, publishers, independent producers and label owners, and corporations in need of publishing administration, royalty accounting and […]
Category: Featured, Publishing
Publishing Notes: Sony/ATV, Green Hills Music
Several financial firms are looking into purchasing Michael Jackson’s share of the Sony/ATV catalog. Among those interested are Colony Capital, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Plainfield Asset Management and the media mogul Haim Saban, the New York Times reports. Jackson’s 50% stake in the publisher–which owns a majority of the Beatles copyrights–could be worth as much a […]
Category: Featured, Publishing
LifeNotes: Ellen Wood Hospitalized, Tim Nichols’ Mother
Get well wishes to former BMI publicist and Music City News writer Ellen Wood, who is in the hospital following surgery to repair a broken shoulder. The operation was complicated by Wood developing pneumonia. She is recuperating slowly at St. Thomas Hospital. ————————– Condolences to Grammy winning songwriter, Tim Nichols, on the loss of his […]
Category: Featured
Industry Tourney Aids Children’s Hospital
The 36th Annual Music City Tennis Invitational (MCTI) donated $118,473.19 to the Center for Child Development at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. The money was raised by 125 tennis players who participated in the tournament, along with sponsorships, donations, auctions and a songwriters’ concert that benefited the event. The annual MCTI charity tennis […]
Category: Featured
NAMM, Jamey, Billy, Jimmy, Nashville Music Awards, Symphony Sale
The deadline has been extended to Friday, July 24 for submissions for the Nashville Music Awards. Revived in a partnership with Next Big Nashville (NBN) and Leadership Music, Inc. (LM), the Nashville Music Awards (NMA), were produced by LM from 1995 through 2000. The NMAs recognized outstanding contributions in all genres of music. Winners will […]
Paisley Mines Digital Gold
Brad Paisley tops the country album sales chart for a second consecutive week with his new release, American Saturday Night. The album’s first single, “Then,” has already become a three-week No. 1. The second single, “Welcome to the Future,” has already zoomed to No. 44 on the MusicRow Country Breakout chart, even though the official […]
Trade Organizations Work Best As Separate Entities
While the goals of Nashville’s top three music trade groups are closely aligned, each has issues and objectives specific to its genre. The Country Music Association, Americana Music Association, and International Bluegrass Music Association work tirelessly to promote the music they represent to consumers and the industry. A recent poll on MusicRow.com posed the following […]
Category: Featured, Organizations



