Industry News: Nashville At Sundance, Gospel Honors

ASCAP is sending Nashville songwriters including LeAnn Rimes, Brendan Benson, Joey+Rory, k.s. Rhoads, and Sam & Ruby to the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, going on Jan. 21-31 in Park City, Utah. Events include the  Sundance ASCAP Music Café and the annual, invitation-only ASCAP Filmmaker & Composer Breakfast.

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BMI will honor gospel greats Donnie McClurkin and Andraé Crouch at its 11th Annual Trailblazers of Gospel Music Awards Luncheon, Jan. 15 at Rocketown. Held the day before the 25th Annual Stellar Awards, BMI’s invitation-only ceremony will welcome gospel music’s premier songwriters, recording artists and music industry executives, as well as the genre’s legends.

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More details about the Show Dog-Universal Music label will be unveiled Wed., Jan. 13 when Principle Toby Keith and President Mark Wright hold a press conference in Nashville.
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Moraine Music Group Canadian singer/songwriter Johnny Reid closed out 2009 as the Top Selling Canadian Artist on the Billboard Country Album chart, selling 300,000 units. Reid also swept the CCMA’s, winning six awards.

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Digital Music News reports producer Matt Serletic—known in Nashville most recently for his work with Gloriana—has been at CES in Las Vegas promoting his software company Music Mastermind. The game-like program is designed to make music-making easy regardless of musical background. DMN calls it “ProTools for the masses.”

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Longtime Napster CEO Chris Gorog and president Brad Duea are leaving the company; owner Best Buy says both positions are being eliminated. Christopher Allen, previously Napster’s COO, will move to  General Manager.

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SXSWeek 2010 will be March 12-21 in Austin. The first headliner announced is Cheap Trick. Other early conference topics include case studies on music from the film Twilight: New Moon, and examining how music makes it way into mass culture via the video game Rock Band.