Phyllis Stark is the VP of A&R at Robbins Nashville, the country division of the New York-based independent label Robbins Entertainment. A longtime journalist, Stark has been reporting extensively on the music and radio industries for two decades. Prior to joining Robbins, she spent 17 years at Billboard magazine where she served in various capacities including Nashville bureau chief.
Say you’re Craig Wiseman. You’re already one of Nashville’s top songwriters and independent publishers, written more than 100 charted singles and 14 No. 1 hits, been named writer of the year by NSAI and ASCAP (three times), started a successful administration company, expanded your Nashville publishing interests to a London office, and amassed a fierce [...]
A perennial trend in the country format has been a stream of pop stars trying to cross over to country, with current examples including Jewel and Hootie and the Blowfish front man Darius Rucker. But a more interesting trend is developing on the country charts right now—a sudden influx of pop songs being covered by [...]
In recent years, investors from industries outside the music business have increasingly become the financial backers for independent record labels on Music Row. That trend has also extended to indie publishing companies, several of which now work with investors.
For the publishers, such investors provide an infusion of cash that can help them open, expand, or [...]
In last week’s column, we heard stories from country record promotion pros about some of their hard-fought chart victories. As we continue that theme this week, another crop of veteran promoters weighs in with their stories of singles they tortured up the charts, only to have their efforts pay off when the songs went on [...]
As we head toward next month’s Country Radio Seminar, where every record promotion exec in town will be working like mad to get radio’s attention focused on their artists and singles, it seems like an appropriate time for some inspiration to those in the trenches.
To that end, I reached out to a group of country [...]
Part of the fun of working in the music industry is getting to work with artists and other celebrities, but should the rules of conduct for industry professionals be different than for fans when it comes to dealing with artists? Music Row publicists are divided on this issue.
After bringing her star client to a recent, [...]
On any given day, someone who works in the country music industry might have to navigate their way around gherms, speed bumps, diesel sniffers and even giant naked people.
The music industry, and Music Row in particular, speaks a language all its own, peppered with an amusing array of names, terms and expressions only true [...]
