February Newsletter
2022 is already off to an exciting start for our clients!
Made in Memphis Entertainment (MIME)
Beatroot, a leading independent music distributor and part of the MIME family, just signed a worldwide distribution deal with Seattle-based music label DICE LAB (Dreaming In Color Entertainment), which aims to explode into the national music scene by focusing on people and projects that embrace intersectionality, social justice, and exquisite sound and visuals. The first releases under the deal will be four singles, including the just released “A Thousand Songs,” as well as an album titled Big Thank by DICE LAB artist King Youngblood.
Heavy Hitters Music, MIME’s boutique song catalog and music publisher, had a smash hit on their hands recently with “Keep Up” by Chelsea Grams, which hit 20 million views on TikTok and received a major placement in a Dolce & Gabbana advertising campaign.
MIME had a record year overall in 2021 with major chart and social media successes for MIME-affiliated artists, producers, and songwriters, as well as the opening of a new 4U Recording studio in Atlanta and major industry recognition for MIME’s leadership team. Read their full 2021 recap here.
Music Tech Works / rightsholder.io
Rightsholder.io Co-Founders Jarrett Hines, CEO, and Bryson Nobles, CTO, talked to Platform & Stream for a Q&A recently about how they started the company, their thoughts on music streaming, and more! Read it here.
The team also held a webinar in January for members of AIMP’s New York Chapter. Jarrett and Bryson walked attendees through a detailed demonstration of how the platform provides publishing and master recording ownership information and previous licenses for over 60 million songs.
During January’s webinar, the company unveiled their new tool, WorldSearch, that will help music publishers actively monitor their song registrations around the world. The goal of the new feature is to help publishers quickly identify and fix issues with their catalog registrations to ensure that they are collecting 100% of the royalties.
DDEX
DDEX has signed a liaison agreement with ISNI (International Standard Name Identifier) in acknowledgement of their shared interests in identifiers and music industry workflows. After signing the agreement, ISNI’s Executive Director, Tim Devenport, and British Library’s Head of Metadata, Adele Pease both spoke at DDEX’s 38th Plenary in November of 2021 informing members of proper use, updates on their Music Sector Consultation Group, as well as ways it is currently in use across the world.
DDEX also recently announced their 2022 Webinar Program
Attendees can register here for each of the below events:
Communicating Data About Classical Music in DDEX Standards
- Tuesday 8th March: 08:00 GMT
- Thursday 24th March: 16:00 GMT
Communicating Immersive Audio Using the Electronic Release Notification Message Suite (ERN), Version 4.3
- Thursday 23rd June: 6:00 BST
- Tuesday 7th June: 08:00 BST
Preparing Your Data for a DDEX Implementation
- Tuesday 6th September: 08:00 BST
- Thursday 22nd September: 16:00 BST
DDEX Implementation Pet-Hates and How to Resolve Them
- Tuesday 6th December: 08:00 GMT
- Thursday 15th December: 16:00 GMT
CCS Rights Management / Daytripper
CCS Rights Management was recently named Company of the Month by IMPF, the Independent Music Publishers International Forum. The company has grown 100% year-over-year since its inception and just celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2021. Read the full story here. Congratulations to the team!
CCS has also just signed an exclusive sub-publishing agreement with Ireland’s premier music publisher, Bardis Music Company Ltd. Through the deal, CCS will represent Bardis Music’s catalog in the territory of Canada, managing major works by top Irish songwriters and composers including Ronan Hardiman (Lord of the Dance), Nathan Carter, Daniel O’Donnell, Eurovision winning composer Shay Healy, and many more.
NY Tech Alliance
The NY Tech Alliance has been acquired by Civic Hall, a company focused on learning and collaboration to advance technology and problem-solving for the public good. The organizations have had a long-time relationship, as NY Tech Alliance Chairman Emeritus Andrew Rasiej is the founder of Civic Hall and the two organizations have collaborated on many events and initiatives.
Back in December, the group held a successful Women’s Demo Night hosted by Sapna Shah, Founder, Retail X Series and featuring demos from Allia Mohamed, Co-Founder & CEO, openigloo; Barbara Jones, Founder & CEO, LilliiRNB; and Ursula Lavrencic, Co-Founder & CEO, Hopalai.
The organization also just released its 2021 Annual Report, available here.
Highlights include:
- 40 total online events hosted last year, including NY Tech Meetups, NY Tech Talk Forums, CEO Roundtables, Founder Spotlights, and more
- As of December 2021, the flagship NYTM has hosted 1,000 demoers since its inception in 2004
- 62,000 community members; 40% of community self-identify as entrepreneurs and founders
And we bid farewell to Executive Director Andy Saldaña, who after almost 10 years at NY Tech is heading to Montreal to focus on his work with QueerTech. We will miss your joyful presence, but we’re glad that you will still be part of the organization as a member of the Board of Directors.
Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP)
AIMP’s Los Angeles Chapter kicked off the year with a fantastic webinar, “When Opportunity Knocks: Songwriting in 2022”. Speakers included Teri Nelson Carpenter (President & CEO, Reel Muzik Werks/ AIMP Los Angeles Chapter President), Marc Caruso (CEO & Co-Founder, Angry Mob Music/ AIMP Los Angeles Chapter Vice President), Yvonne Drazan (VP Latin Division, West Coast, peermusic/ Los Angeles Chapter Board Member), William Davenport (Singer/Songwriter, Reel Muzik Werks), Manu Manzo (Singer/Songwriter, peermusic), and Tatiana Owens (Singer/Songwriter, Angry Mob Music).
AIMP also has several webinars happening in the coming weeks, including:
- David Israelite/NMPA – Music Publishing Update | February 24 at 2:30 p.m. PT
Deborah Mannis-Gardner
Deborah Mannis-Gardner was featured on Billboard this week for her recent work clearing samples for cult-favorite hip-hop mixtapes that are now coming to streaming. One such project was No Ceilings by Lil Wayne, which went on to debut at No. 18 on the Billboard 200 after a complicated clearance process where all but two of the 21 tracks contained samples. “You have to crunch a lot of numbers budget wise and then make sure that everyone is going to make money,” she noted in the article.
Deborah also continues to take the video game world by storm, most recently via a feature on Game Developer where she talked about about the continued necessity of music clearance agents, how streaming has changed the role, how to get into the field, and more.
Back in 2020 Deborah wrote a guest column for RAIN News, “Podcast Music Licensing: 4 Things You Need to Know”. This post went viral in 2021, and was recently named one of RAIN’s top five posts of last year!
Angry Mob Music
Angry Mob has extended its worldwide co-publishing deal with LA-based Danish songwriter/producer, mixer, and multi-instrumentalist Rune Westberg. Westberg is currently in the studio with frequent collaborator Grammy-nominated Blues artist Beth Hart. He is also working with emerging artist BAYWUD on a new EP entitled Home, as well as co-wrote the artists’ most recent singles, “Silver & Gold,” “(We Don’t Have ) to Walk Alone,” and “Hold On To Me,” which are high on rotation on radio stations in the U.S.
Exactuals
On January 19, Exactuals announced that its global payment platform, PaymentHub, surpassed the $2 billion mark in processed payments. In 2021, PaymentHub processed more than $1.55 billion, a significant increase over the $450 million it processed in 2020. This pushed the platform – which manages many forms of complex payments such as residuals, royalties, and insurance claims on behalf of its clients – past $2 billion with massive growth across all business lines, including film, TV, music, real estate and insurance. Read the press release >>
Soundstripe
Soundstripe has hired seasoned data analyst Joseph Owens as Director of Data Science. He will bring his expertise from Ramsey Solutions, Chegg Inc., ServiceMaster, The Pictsweet Company, and more to the role, where he will be responsible for overseeing and formalizing business intelligence initiatives, leading ML/AI strategy, and creating an environment that facilitates a data-driven culture. The announcement of his hire was also covered by Music Row!
Verifi Media
On February 1, Verifi Media launched the Verifi Rights Data Alliance (VRDA), which will drastically streamline information collaboration for music catalogs throughout the digital value chain while allowing each entity to maintain its own proprietary data source. Warner Music Group, Unison, Deezer, and FUGA have already joined the alliance. The launch was also covered in Billboard! Read the Billboard article here.
Allen Bargfrede, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Verifi Media, recently released the third edition of his book Music Law in the Digital Age. Published by Berklee Press, the book is designed as an easy-to-read reference guide to help any artist, songwriter, lawyer, or music industry professional understand the complexities of copyright best practices and industry standards in today’s music business. Learn more about the book here.
Picked Cherries
Please welcome new Jaybird client, Picked Cherries!
Picked Cherries is changing the way people discover, listen to, and share podcasts through their newly launched app which allows podcast listeners to share clips of their favorite podcasts across social media platforms.
Music Biz Registration Is Open!
We are excited that the Music Biz Conference will be back in person this year, May 9-12 in Nashville! Several of our clients including Tony Alexander (CEO, MIME), Crystal Carpenter (Studio Manager, MIME), and Deborah Mannis-Gardner will be speaking at this year’s conference. Registration is open now, so make sure to check out the full agenda!
Meet The Team!
Meet Ashley Friedman
Ashley joined Jaybird in August 2021 as Content Coordinator, bringing her marketing expertise to the creation of email newsletters, social media campaigns and other strategic initiatives for Jaybird’s roster of clients. A Chicago native who made the move to Nashville in 2017, Ashley began her career in B2B marketing and is thrilled to now be working in music as she navigates Music City.
Favorite album or song:
Lorde – Melodrama
Favorite Movie: Legally Blonde
Hobbies: Concerts, latch hook, and watching Gilmore Girls on a constant loop
