Industry Ink: BMI Stage at ACL, Belmont and Sony/ATV, CMHoF Hosts Bill Anderson

Nashville Artists Take To BMI Stage at ACL

Many Nashville artists ventured to Austin to perform at the 2016 Austin City Limits Music Festival’s second weekend, held Oct. 7-9. Among those who performed on the BMI stage are songstress Amanda Shires, country band LANco, indie-pop band Daniel Ellsworth and the Great Lakes, singer-songwriter Elise Davis, and band The Roosevelts. Photos by Erika Goldring.

BMI Americana artist Amanda Shires poses with BMI’s Nina Carter backstage at the BMI stage at ACL Fest.

BMI songwriters LANco get the audience moving with their high-energy country songs. The band released an EP in April and has been touring extensively since.

Belmont and Sony/ATV Continue Partnership

The Mike Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business at Belmont University is once again partnering with Sony/ATV Music Publishing for the All Access program. Through the program, students will have the opportunity to have two songs reviewed by the Sony/ATV Music Publishing Creative Team who will then select a limited number of students to perform live for the team at a showcase.

Sony/ATV Music Publishing SVP of Nashville A&R Josh Van Valkenburg said, “Sony/ATV is incredibly proud to continue this partnership with Belmont. We have signed a student from each of the last two years, and we are always impressed with the level of talent put forth by the student body. Belmont continues to be an innovative educational leader by developing opportunities like All Access, and we feel confident we will receive even more impressive submissions from Belmont students this year.”

The first year of the program led to the signing of Belmont songwriting major Maddie Larkin and in 2015, songwriting major Jake Rogers signed with Sony/ATV Music Publishing.

CMHoF Hosts Whisperin’ Bill

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum will present Country Music Hall of Fame member Bill Anderson in a special songwriter session on Saturday, Oct. 22, at 11:30 a.m. Anderson will perform and discuss his new autobiography Whisperin’ Bill Anderson: An Unprecedented Life in Country Music. The program will be hosted by the museum’s Peter Cooper, who co-wrote Anderson’s book.