PUB CRAWLING
Adele who’s currently ruling the galaxy, is a UMPG writer; so is Tobias Jesso, Jr. (pictured at right), who co-wrote the brilliant “When We Were Young” with her. In a related story, Jody Gerson, Evan Lamberg and team would like to tender their early Christmas greetings.
Last week’s sales chart, meanwhile, marked a bonanza for BMG, which has big song equity on both Justin Bieber’s #1, Purpose (Def Jam), and One Direction’s overperforming second-place-winner, Made in the A.M. (SYCO/Columbia).
It takes a village, of course; Bieber is himself a UMPG writer; his “What Do You Mean” and “Where Are U Now?” were written with SONGS’ Diplo and Kobalt’s Skrillex. His hit “Sorry,” meanwhile, was co-penned by Warner/Chappell tunesmiths Justin Tranter and Julia Michaels and Pulse/OWSLA's Bloodpop; the latter co-wrote and/or produced several other tracks on the album, as did Pulse's Gladius, Nico Stadi, Josh Abraham & Oligee and Ely Rise. This is by no means an exhaustive list of collaborators; stay tuned for more.
Kenny MacPherson’s Big Deal Music is coming off #1 Pop radio smash “Stitches” for Island’s Shawn Mendes (penned by Teddy Geiger, Danny Parker and Daylight) and has big writer share on the 1D album. The pubco is also celebrating two really cool signings—the ever-lovin’ Nick Lowe (inked by the pubco’s Dave Ayers) and alt-rock shredders Wolfmother (whose new UMe album will knock you on your arse). Stay tuned for more news from Kenny and team. In the meantime, enjoy this fine Pinot Noir from Aberdeen…
Wonderers are wondering what’s next in the Pandora saga. Having done a deal with Sony/ATV and now acquiring Rdio’s assets for an entry in the on-demand competition, is the streaming giant ready to make other pub pacts? Certainly the licensing conversation takes an entirely new turn once Pandora is offering something qualitatively similar to Spotify and Apple Music.
Since this is the first column in a while, we need to give another shout to Warner/Chappell’s Nashville chief, Ben Vaughn, who has championed writer Chris Stapleton since long before the bearded breakout’s Mercury Nashville set flew to back-to-back album chart triumphs. For more on Stapleton, who’s had his songs recorded by an array of superstars, go here.
One more late-breaking BMG mention is in order: the pubbery has inked the catalogue of prog greats Emerson, Lake & Palmer. I happen to know that certain principals at BMG are big prog nerds, and since I am too, I extend my congratulations in the form of a 39-bar Moog solo in 7/4 time.
