songwriter

This summer, Netflix’s animated hit “KPop Demon Hunters” might have created the most popular K-pop girl group in America. And seemingly the only people unaware of that distinction are its members.

“Is that what it is?,” asks Rei Ami, who with fellow artists Ejae and Audrey Nuna forms the film’s fictional trio Huntr/x. “Is that what it’s being labeled as?”

The stats are behind them: “Golden,” a contender for the Oscar for original song, hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for more than eight consecutive weeks, with three other numbers earning a place in the Top 10. As a result, the film’s soundtrack hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and recently went platinum. With success has come an array of other opportunities as well. The group have since made a cameo on “Saturday Night Live” and performed on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.”

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But as Ejae points out, theirs has not been the usual route to K-pop stardom. A former K-pop trainee herself, she notes that many hopefuls spend years developing their craft and chemistry with future group members. “We were all individually our own person. They had their music career, and I have my career as a songwriter,” she says. “[Becoming a K-pop group] later is unheard of with K-pop training. You do it when they’re kids, before anything [can develop], so they can shape them together, whereas we’re our own individuals coming together. Having this synergy is incredibly rare.”

That’s what singing in the most-watched Netflix film of all time will do for you. Premiering in August, “KPop Demon Hunters” propelled the members of Huntr/x — all of them already established in the industry, Nuna and Ami as artists and Ejae, who recently released her first solo single, as a songwriter for K-pop groups — into a new intensity of spotlight. (Ejae also wrote several tracks for the film, including “Golden,” with co-writers Mark Sonnenblick, Ido, 24 and Teddy.)

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1. Rei Ami is the singing voice for Zoey. 2. Ejae is the singing voice for Rumi. 3. Audrey Nuna is the singing voice for Mira. (Justin Jun Lee / For The Times)

“We were thrown together, basically,” says Nuna. “I’ve seen photos of us and I [thought], ‘Damn, we look like we were perfectly calculated to be in this group.’ The balance is nuts. But to think how serendipitous it was that this happened — we didn’t audition in rooms or go through multiple rounds of pairings to find each other… It just speaks to the beauty of the universe and how things go and when things just happen.”

In fact, the singers did not even meet until nearly five months ago, on the carpet at the film’s premiere. They recorded their parts separately with executive music director Ian Eisendrath, who then worked with the music team to edit them all together.

Ami was the last to record her part, which meant she got to hear “This Is What It Sounds Like” in its entirety with all the voices meshed together. The moment recalled the film’s final scene, in which Huntr/x — whose members double as the demon hunters of the title — reunites to fight the main villain to the sounds of the very same song, when “This Is What It Sounds Like” plays.

“I got to hear the song in full and all of our harmonies for the first time,” she recalls. “I was completely moved. I knew in my heart that this was going to be great.”

Still, they never expected the film to become a global phenomenon, resulting in their now chaotic schedules filled with press interviews, panel engagements, media appearances and special performances. Ami smiles, “We’re doing our best.”

Through it all, they’ve hyped each other’s achievements and held hands while expressing their appreciation for each other.

“These women have worked so hard on their journeys individually,” says Ami. “The industry has been so tumultuous, and the amount of pain, struggle, blood, sweat and tears that we’ve individually had to deal with … These two girls are the only ones in the world who will fully understand what I’m going through. I can’t talk to anyone else about this. Only they understand, and I feel so supported and not alone.”

They all clasp hands, with Ami telling the others, “I love you guys.”

And, for all the challenging moments, they are immensely grateful for the chance to fulfill their dreams. They all express their gratitude for the opportunity, as it has always been their dream.

“Literally, a month before the movie came out, I was doubting myself as a songwriter,” Ejae explains. “My goal was to get No. 1 on the Hot 100. I was going to do that — move to California, write so many sessions, and get No. 1. It felt impossible.”

“Those are all things we have on our bucket list,” Ami, right, says of the prospect of performing at the Oscars or Grammys.

(Justin Jun Lee / For The Times)

Ami becomes emotional about the film’s success when she talks about its impact on her career.

“I’m so blessed,” she says, holding back tears. “It’s really introduced me to more fans and new fans. This whole experience has taught me a lot about myself and what I want to do as an artist. My dreams are coming true.”

That hasn’t necessarily been the experience for her groupmates, though. “It takes a very long time [for me] to process and metabolize emotions,” Nuna says of her own lack of waterworks. “I’ve never wanted somebody to cry so much in my life,” Ami chimes in, laughing. “Feel something!”

The “instant chemistry” displayed in their interview was recently on display when the three were asked to perform “Golden” together for “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” — their first as a group. And the more they rehearsed, the more they cohered. Just like a real K-pop group.

“It’s really wild and weird,” says Nuna. “Honestly, the mesh of our voices just felt so intuitive. It was very organic and easy. The song is not easy, but the mesh and connecting were. It was literally our first time singing together, and I feel like we were hearing overtones in our harmonies and stuff, because they’re just really locked in.”

Awards buzz, for both the Oscars and the Grammys, has come as a surprise to the group, but it leads to questions about reuniting Huntr/x onstage at the biggest pop culture events of the year.

“[Performing at the Oscars or Grammys] would be the biggest deal,” says Ami. “I think we can all relate. That’s probably one of the highest accolades and achievements you can accomplish as an artist, songwriter, and producer. Those are all things we have on our bucket list.”

The trio hasn’t thought far enough ahead about an actual performance on either stage, as they’ve only recently begun rehearsing together.

“Jimmy Fallon will be a good practice,” Ejae laughs. “Good warm-up preparation.”

Indeed, though they have joked about forming a (real-life) K-pop group, all three are busy with individual projects — at least for now.

“If we were to get together, the charts better watch out!” Ami shouts. “You might not ever see another name other than us.”

Dolly Parton announced Sunday that she would be delaying six concerts at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas that were slated for December due to “health challenges.”

In a message posted on social media, the country superstar shared that she’s been dealing with some health issues and her doctors have advised her to undergo some procedures to manage it, though she did not provide specifics. The concerts were set for Dec. 4 through 13.

“I want the fans and the public to hear directly from me that, unfortunately, I will need to postpone my upcoming Las Vegas concerts,” the 79-year-old singer and songwriter wrote in a cheeky statement posted to her Instagram and X accounts. “As many of you know, I have been dealing with some health challenges, and my doctors tell me that I must have a few procedures. “As I joked with them, it must be for my 100,000-mile check-up, although it’s not the usual trip to see my plastic surgeon.”

Parton said she needs time to “get show ready” to be back on stage and put on a performance that fans “deserve to see.” She also tried to ease any concern that her situation is serious. “Don’t worry about me quittin’ the business because God hasn’t said anything about stopping yet,” she continued. “But, I believe He is telling me to slow down right now so I can be ready for more big adventures in life.”

“I love you and thank you for understanding,” she signed the note. Earlier this year, Parton’s husband Carl Dean died at 82. The pair were married for nearly 60 years.

Tickets purchased for the original dates will be honored when rescheduled dates are announced. Refunds are also available.

Sonny Curtis, a vintage rock ‘n’ roller who wrote the raw classic “I Fought the Law” and posed the enduring question “Who can turn the world on with her smile?” as the writer-crooner of the theme song to “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” has died at 88.

Curtis, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Crickets in 2012, died Friday, his wife of more than a half-century, Louise Curtis, confirmed to The Associated Press. His daughter, Sarah Curtis, wrote on his Facebook page that he had been suddenly ill.

Curtis wrote or co-wrote hundreds of songs, from Keith Whitley’s country smash “I’m No Stranger to the Rain” to the Everly Brothers’ “Walk Right Back,” a personal favorite Curtis completed while in Army basic training. Bing Crosby, Glen Campbell, Bruce Springsteen and the Grateful Dead were among other artists who covered his work.

Born during the Great Depression to cotton farmers outside of Meadow, Texas, Curtis was a childhood friend of Buddy Holly’s and an active musician in the formative years of rock, whether jamming on guitar with Holly in the mid-1950s or opening for Elvis Presley when Elvis was still a regional act. Curtis’ songwriting touch also soon emerged: Before he turned 20, he had written the hit “Someday” for Webb Pierce and “Rock Around With Ollie Vee” for Holly.

Curtis had left Holly’s group, the Crickets, before Holly became a major star. But he returned after Holly died in a plane crash in 1959 and he was featured the following year on the album “In Style with the Crickets,” which included “I Fought the Law” (dashed off in a single afternoon, according to Curtis, who would say he had no direct inspiration for the song) and the Jerry Allison collaboration “More Than I Can Say,” a hit for Bobby Vee, and later for Leo Sayer.

Meanwhile, it took until 1966 for “I Fought the Law” and its now-immortal refrain “I fought the law — and the law won” to catch on: The Texas-based Bobby Fuller Four made it a Top 10 song. Over the following decades, it was covered by dozens of artists, from punk (the Clash) to country (Johnny Cash, Nanci Griffith) to Springsteen, Tom Petty and other mainstream rock stars.

“It’s my most important copyright,” Curtis told The Tennessean in 2014.

Curtis’ other signature song was as uplifting as “I Fought the Law” was resigned. In 1970, he was writing commercial jingles when he came up with the theme for a new CBS sitcom starring Moore as a single woman hired as a TV producer in Minneapolis. He called the song “Love is All Around,” and used a smooth melody to eventually serve up lyrics as indelible as any in television history:

“Who can turn the world on with her smile? / Who can take a nothing day, and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile? / Well it’s you girl, and you should know it / With each glance and every little movement you show it.”

The song’s endurance was sealed by the images it was heard over, especially Moore’s triumphant toss of her hat as Curtis proclaims, “You’re going to make it after all.” In tribute, other artists began recording it, including Sammy Davis Jr., Joan Jett and the Blackhearts and Minnesota’s Hüsker Dü. A commercial release featuring Curtis came out in 1980 and was a modest success, peaking at No. 29 on Billboard’s country chart.

Curtis would recall being commissioned by his friend Doug Gilmore, a music industry road manager who had heard the sitcom’s developers were looking for an opening song.

“Naturally I said yes, and later that morning, he dropped off a four-page format — you know ‘Girl from the Midwest, moves to Minneapolis, gets a job in a newsroom, can’t afford her apartment etc.,’ which gave me the flavor of what it was all about,” said Curtis, who soon met with show co-creator (and later Oscar-winning filmmaker) James L. Brooks.

“[He] came into this huge empty room, no furniture apart from a phone lying on the floor, and at first, I thought he was rather cold and sort of distant, and he said ‘We’re not at the stage of picking a song yet, but I’ll listen anyway,’” Curtis recalled. “So I played the song, just me and my guitar, and next thing, he started phoning people, and the room filled up, and then he sent out for a tape recorder.”

Curtis would eventually write two versions: the first used in Season 1, the second and better known for the remaining six seasons. The original words were more tentative, opening with “How will you make it on your own?” and ending with “You might just make it after all.” By Season 2, the show was a hit and the lyrics were reworked. The producers had wanted Andy Williams to sing the theme song, but he turned it down and Curtis’ easygoing baritone was heard instead.

Curtis made a handful of solo albums, including “Sonny Curtis” and “Spectrum,” and hit the country Top 20 with the 1981 single “Good Ol’ Girls.” In later years, he continued to play with Allison and other members of the Crickets. The band released several albums, among them “The Crickets and Their Buddies,” featuring appearances by Eric Clapton, Graham Nash and Phil Everly. One of Curtis’ more notable songs was “The Real Buddy Holly Story,” a rebuke to the 1978 biopic “The Buddy Holly Story,” which starred Gary Busey.

Curtis settled in Nashville in the mid-1970s and lived there with his wife, Louise. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1991 and, as part of the Crickets, into Nashville’s Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2007. Five years later, he and the Crickets were inducted into the Rock Hall, praised as “the blueprint for rock and roll bands (that) inspired thousands of kids to start up garage bands around the world.”

Italie writes for the Associated Press. Associated Press journalist Mallika Sen contributed reporting.

Singer-songwriter Brett James, who penned country music hits for stars including Carrie Underwood, Kenny Chesney and Jason Aldean, was one of three people who died Thursday in a plane crash in North Carolina. He was 57.

The Federal Aviation Administration announced in its preliminary report that three people were on board in a Cirrus SR22T that “crashed in a field” Thursday at around 3 p.m. local time in Franklin, N.C. There were no survivors, the North Carolina State Highway patrol confirmed in a statement.

According to additional information from the FAA, the songwriter was on the plane, which was registered to him under his legal name, Brett James Cornelius. It’s unclear whether he was piloting the plane during its crash, which the FAA said occurred “under unknown circumstances.” The state patrol confirmed the musician’s death, adding that his wife, Melody Carole, and Carole’s daughter Meryl Maxwell Wilson were the other two people on the plane. Wilson celebrated her birthday this week, according to a post on Carole’s Instagram page.

The aircraft had taken off from John C. Tune Airport in Nashville. The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board said they are investigating the crash.

The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame shared the news of James’ death Thursday in a social media post. “We mourn the untimely loss of Hall of Fame member Brett James (‘Jesus Take The Wheel’ / ‘When the Sun Goes Down’), a 2020 inductee who was killed in a small-engine airplane crash on Sept. 18,” the post said.

James, born June 5, 1968, is best known for co-writing the 2005 Underwood hit “Jesus, Take the Wheel.” The ballad, also co-written by Hillary Lindsey and Gordie Sampson, helped propel the careers of “American Idol” winner Underwood and James: It won the country song prize at the 2007 Grammy Awards and was dubbed ASCAP’s country song of the year in 2006.

The Missouri-born musician began his music career in the early 1990s after leaving medical school behind. He signed as a solo to Career Records, a subsidiary of Arista Nashville, but found his calling writing for Chesney, Billy Ray Cyrus, Martina McBride, Faith Hill, Rascal Flatts, Tim McGraw and other country music acts.

“A brilliant songwriter and amazing man. He was the pen behind ‘Summer Nights,’ ‘Love You Out Loud’ and countless songs we’ve all sang along too,” Rascal Flatts said Friday in an Instagram tribute. “He will be greatly missed.”

Aldean also remembered James during his show in Lincoln, Neb., performing their song “The Truth.” The singer said he had “nothing but love and respect for that guy and he helped change my life” in a social media post of that performance.

James also penned Cheney and Uncle Kracker’s “When the Sun Goes Down,” Underwood’s “Cowboy Casanova” and Rodney Atkins’ “It’s America.” As a solo artist, James released several singles, a self-titled album in 1995 and the 2020 EP “I Am Now.” ASCAP named James its country songwriter of the year twice, first in 2006 then in 2010.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The 26th Annual Latin Grammy Awards, which are heading back to Las Vegas after a three-year hiatus, now have their nominees set in stone.

This year’s list of top nominees include Bad Bunny (12), Edgar Barrera (10), Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso (10), Rafa Arcaute (eight), Natalia Lafourcade (eight) and Federico Vindver (eight).

The awards show will be held Nov. 13 in Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena, and broadcast live on Univision.

Bad Bunny’s 12 nominations this year will bring his total career nods to 52. With her eight nominations this year, Lafourcade looks to bolster her collection of 18 trophies from the awards show — the most wins for any female artist.

Nabbing eight more nominations, Edgar Barrera continues to pad his stats as the awards show’s most nominated person of all time with 72 nods, along with 24 wins. Spanish artist Alejandro Sanz received four nods this year, which brings his career total to 51.

November’s show will be the debut of the new Visual Media field and its new category, Music For Visual Media, which will honor scores for film and television. Also added to this year’s awards is the category for Best Roots Song.

Several notable first-time nominees — whom De Los has previously profiled — are up for some of the biggest awards of the night, including Fuerza Regida, Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso, Ivan Cornejo and Judeline.

Here’s the list of nominees in all general categories:

Record Of The Year

“Baile Inolvidable” — Bad Bunny

“DtMF” — Bad Bunny

“El Día Del Amigo” — Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso

“#Tetas” — Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso

“Desastres Fabulosos” — Jorge Drexler & Conociendo Rusia

“Lara” — Zoe Gotusso

“Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido” — Karol G

“Cancionera” — Natalia Lafourcade

“Ao Teu Lado” — Liniker

“Palmeras En El Jardín” — Alejandro Sanz

Album Of The Year

“Cosa Nuestra” — Rauw Alejandro

“Debí Tirar Más Fotos” — Bad Bunny

“Papota” — Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso

“Raíces” — Gloria Estefan

“Puñito De Yocahú” — Vicente García

“al romper la burbuja” — Joaquina

“Cancionera” — Natalia Lafourcade

“Palabra De To’s (Seca)” — Carín León

“Caju” — Liniker

“En Las Nubes – Con Mis Panas” — Elena Rose

“¿Y Ahora Qué?” — Alejandro Sanz

Song Of The Year

“Baile Inolvidable” — Marco Daniel Borrero, Antonio Caraballo, Kaled Elikai Rivera Cordova, Julio Gaston, Armando Josue Lopez, Jay Anthony Nuñez, Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio and Roberto Jose Rosado Torres, songwriters (Bad Bunny)

“Bogotá” — Andres Cepeda, Mauricio Rengifo and Andres Torres, songwriters (Andrés Cepeda)

“Cancionera” — Natalia Lafourcade, songwriter (Natalia Lafourcade)

“DtMF” — Bad Bunny, Marco Daniel Borrero, Scott Dittrich, Benjamin Falik, Roberto José Rosado Torres, Hugo René Sención Sanabria and Tyler Spry, songwriters (Bad Bunny)

“El Día Del Amigo” — Rafa Arcaute, Gino Borri, Catriel Guerreiro, Ulises Guerriero, Amanda Ibanez, Vicente Jiménez and Federico Vindver, songwriters (Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso)

“Otra Noche De Llorar” — Mon Laferte, songwriter (Mon Laferte)

“Palmeras En El Jardín” — Manuel Lorente Freire, Luis Miguel Gómez Castaño, Elena Rose and Alejandro Sanz, songwriters (Alejandro Sanz)

“Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido” — Edgar Barrera, Andres Jael Correa Rios and Karol G, songwriters (Karol G)

“#Tetas” — Rafa Arcaute, Gino Borri, Ca7riel, Gale, Ulises Guerriero, Vicente Jiménez and Federico Vindver, songwriters (Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso)

“Veludo Marrom” — Liniker, songwriter (Liniker)

Best New Artist

Alleh

Annasofia

Yerai Cortés

Juliane Gamboa

Camila Guevara

Isadora

Alex Luna

Paloma Morphy

Sued Nunes

Ruzzi

A full list of all the nominees in every category can be found here.

Ever since operetta composer Victor Herbert sued Shanley’s restaurant in New York in 1917 to force it to pay for playing his song on a player-piano, songwriters and music publishers have depended on Performing Rights Organizations to make sure they get compensated.

For much of the last century, three organizations dominated the industry, a relatively staid and unglamorous corner of the music scene that remained largely unchanged throughout the eras of radio, records and CDs. But the rise of streaming has led to a surge in revenue and spawned a handful of new organizations looking to cash in.

Now there are at least half a dozen PROs in the United States, representing songwriters and publishers, each demanding that bars, restaurants, hotels and other venues pay a fee or risk being sued.

Businesses say the rising licensing costs have become overwhelming, and some question whether it’s even worth playing music at all. The House Judiciary Committee last fall asked the Copyright Office to investigate the current system and consider potential reforms. In February, the Office opened an inquiry and received thousands of comments from businesses and songwriters.

“The growing proliferation of PROs and their lack of transparency have made it increasingly difficult to offer music in our establishments,” hundreds of small businesses from across the country wrote to the Copyright Office in a joint letter.

“The issue is not that small businesses are unwilling to pay for music,” they wrote, adding that the current system is unfair and untenable. “Small businesses can be left feeling like PROs have them over the proverbial barrel.”

Creating a welcoming ambiance in a restaurant or yoga studio isn’t as simple as putting on a Spotify playlist. Streaming has unleashed trillions of songs, and every one must be licensed and have royalties paid to the songwriter whenever any track is played in public. Violations can cost up to $150,000 per infringement.

This booming market for music publishing has led to a windfall for the two major PROs. The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, founded in 1914, and BMI, established in 1939, together represent more than 90% of musical compositions in the U.S. today with talent lists covering Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Jay-Z, Lady Gaga and Eminem, to name a few. SESAC, founded in 1931, rounds out the original three and operates on an invite-only basis.

ASCAP, the oldest and, as a nonprofit, the only PRO to publicly share data on its collections and payout, has seen revenue jump to $1.8 billion in 2024 from $935 million in 2010. Broadcast Music Inc., in its last public report as a nonprofit in 2022, showed record revenue of $1.6 billion, with 48% of that from digital sources.

This kind of growth hasn’t gone unnoticed. In just over the last 12 years, three new PROs have emerged. Legendary music manager Irving Azoff founded Global Music Rights in 2013, offering “boutique services” and royalty transparency, building a stable of more than 160 high-profile songwriters such as Bad Bunny and Bruce Springsteen.

AllTrack, founded in 2017, caters to smaller, independent songwriters. Pro Music Rights launched in 2018 and says it represents more than 2.5 million musical works, including AI-created music.

Many songs today are composed by several songwriters, each of whom could be affiliated with a different PRO. Therefore, to legally play those songs, establishments must pay for a license from each PRO. Most PROs offer blanket licensing agreements, meaning that they provide access to their entire repertoires for one fee. And while that gives a particular venue a wide range of musical freedom, it also means bars and restaurants are paying for thousands of songs they may never play or are essentially paying twice, in instances where a song with multiple writers is represented by more than one PRO.

The National Restaurant Assn. said its members pay an average of $4,500 per year to license music, or 0.5% of the average U.S. small restaurant’s total annual sales.

“This may not seem like a large amount, but for an industry that runs on an average pre-tax margin of 3%-5%, this cost is significant, especially since operators don’t clearly understand what they get for this particular investment aside from avoiding the very legitimate threat of a business-ending lawsuit,” the association wrote in public comments to the Copyright Office.

The American Hotel & Lodging Assn. said the mushrooming number of PROs has led to “significant increases in both financial and administrative burdens.” It gave an example of one “major global hotel chain” that reported the cost per hotel for PRO license fees rose by about 200% from 2021-25, with some hotels seeing increases of 400% or more.

A large hotel that hosts occasional live music events could be paying a single PRO $5,000 to $20,000 a year. If it’s paying all of the major PROs, it could be incurring as much as $80,000 in fees, according to the association.

BMI said its licensing fees have remained “relatively steady over the years” and are based on objective criteria that apply equally to all similar businesses. Fees for individual bars and restaurants start at just over $1 a day, according to BMI. Other factors that go into licensing fees include the occupancy rate, and the type of music being played — live, DJed or recorded, for example.

Songwriters’ livelihoods

In the 1917 Supreme Court case that delivered Herbert his victory over Shanley’s, Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote: “If music did not pay, it would be given up.”  He wasn’t only referring to the songwriters, but also to the venues themselves and addressing whether music helped generate revenue. The ruling was a win for Herbert personally but also for ASCAP, which he had helped found, and established the royalty payment system that’s largely still in use today.

A spokesperson for ASCAP said an increase in fees paid to songwriters by venues is an appropriate and inevitable outcome of a growing market. The organization’s musical repertoires have grown exponentially over the years to include tens of millions of works, giving music users more music and more choice, the spokesperson said. ASCAP says about 90 cents of every dollar it collects from licensees is made available for distribution to its members as royalties.

“Licensees are seeking more regulation of PROs because they want to pay songwriters less,” ASCAP Chief Executive Elizabeth Matthews said in a statement to Bloomberg. “If transparency, efficiency and innovation are the goals, more free market competition among PROs is the answer— not unnecessary government intervention.”

Songwriters depend on PROs for their livelihoods, especially in the streaming era. Many individual songwriters wrote to the Copyright Office in defense of the PRO system, expressing concern that government regulation would only diminish their hard-won earnings.

“Every royalty payment I receive represents not just compensation for my work, but my ability to continue creating music that enhances these very businesses,” wrote Joseph Trapanese, a composer who has created scores for film and TV.

Performance royalties make up about half of total publishing revenue, which is collected by PROs and dispersed to songwriters, according to the National Music Publishers’ Assn. Last year, only about 5% of songwriters’ earnings came from bars, restaurants and other venues, a figure that is “significantly undervalued,” according to NMPA executive vice president and General Counsel Danielle Aguirre.

“There is a substantial opportunity for growth here,” she said, speaking at the group’s annual meeting in June.

The organization set a goal to significantly increase that money over the next year, likely by enforcing licensing requirements.

Several establishment owners equated the PRO’s efforts to collect fees to a mob-like shakedown, citing aggressive on-site confrontations and threatening letters.

BMI said it spends a lot of time trying to educate business owners on the value that music brings to their establishment, federal copyright law requirements and the importance of maintaining a music license.

Lawsuits are always a last resort, a spokesperson said, which is why BMI spends sometimes years on educational outreach. If those efforts are ignored, however, an in-person visit might occur, and BMI may take legal action.

Opaque, bureaucratic

Despite their differences, songwriters and businesses agree that the current system is opaque and bureaucratic and could serve both sides better.

Businesses complain about the lack of a comprehensive database of songs and the fact that there is no easy system for reporting which songs they’ve played. Meanwhile, songwriters claim that the sheer volume of music and businesses throughout the U.S. makes it hard to track where and when their work is played and to know whether they’ve been properly compensated.

“What’s really being called to question is, is this system working accurately—is the money that should be finding its way to the songwriters’ pockets finding its way in an efficient manner?” said George Howard, a professor at Berklee College of Music. “And the answer is ‘no.’ There’s no excuse for that with the level of technology we have today.”

BMI and ASCAP joined forces in 2020 to launch Songview, a free digital database showing copyright ownership and administration shares for more than 20 million works. The two PROs are exploring including GMR and SESAC, which would add even more songs to the platform.

Some of the complaints about the PRO licensing system go back decades. Michael Dorf, a producer and founder of the legendary Manhattan music club The Knitting Factory, has faced off with PROs numerous times over his 30-some years as a venue operator. In the 1990s, he signed singer-songwriters who performed at his club to his publishing company and submitted their setlists to the PROs, assuming he and his acts would reap the resulting royalties from their performances.

But no money came in

“We didn’t receive one penny,” Dorf, who’s also the founder and chief executive officer of City Winery, said in an interview. “To me, there is a cost of doing business, and we want to have the artists and the songwriters properly paid — we love that. What’s simply frustrating is to pay money and know it’s not going to the reason why it’s being collected.”

Caleb Shreve, a songwriter and producer who’s worked with the likes of Jennifer Lopez and is also chief executive at Killphonic Rights, a rights collection organization, said he hears music he has produced “all the time in yoga spots and bars, and I’ve never seen them on publishing statements.” Many songwriters are convinced the current system favors the biggest artists at the expense of middle-tier and emerging songwriters. Because of the blanket licensing system, BMI and ASCAP don’t track individual song use by those licensees and instead rely on proxy data, like what’s popular on the radio or through streaming platforms, to divvy up those collected fees.

Sometimes radio hits mimic what’s played in an arena, restaurant or bar, but not always.

ASCAP said it tracks trillions of performances every year across all media platforms and only uses sample surveys or proxy data when obtaining actual performance data isn’t feasible or is cost prohibitive.

Technology could be a way to solve the current issues without regulation. London-based Audoo is one company leading the way.

Founded by musician Ryan Edwards in 2018 after he heard his music being played in a department store and discovered he wasn’t getting paid for it, the growing startup uses proprietary listening devices it places in cafes, gyms and other public venues to recognize and log songs. It uploads the data to the cloud, ensuring every artist — not just the chart toppers — receives compensation for their work.

The company has attracted investment from music icons including Elton John and Adele, and its devices are used by PROs in the U.K. and Australia. It made its first foray into the US earlier this year, placing listening devices in about 180 establishments around the Denver area in a test run.The collected data underscored that what’s played in public places doesn’t necessarily mirror what’s on the popular playlists or radio and streaming platforms. Edwards likens the idea of using proxies to political polling — directionally helpful but not precise.

Audoo found that 77,000 unique tracks were played around Denver over two months, split among 26,000 artists, according to data viewed by Bloomberg News. On average, only 6.6% of the top-40 songs played in the venues also appeared on Billboard’s top radio-play chart.

In markets where Audoo has partnered with venues, Edwards said business owners have been proud to support particular songwriters and the music business writ large.

“All of a sudden it went from a push-and-pull of, ‘Why do I owe you money?’ to, ‘OK, I can understand music is funding the people who create,’” Edwards said.

Carman and Soni write for Bloomberg.

Sabrina Claudio is not the same person she was a year ago — much less eight years ago, when she first introduced herself with a shimmering neo-soul EP, titled “Confidently Lost.”

Now, having amassed millions of fans with sultry, golden-hour slow jams and trips down melancholy lane, she’s presenting her most earnest songwriting yet in her newest album, “Fall In Love With Her,” released June 9 on San Francisco indie label Empire.

“I think in the past couple years, people in my life that I love have helped me get out of my shell and shown me how important vulnerability is,” she says. “Now I’m like, you know what? I’m gonna tell y’all everything, how about that?”

For her fifth studio LP, Claudio steered her R&B sound into a less-traveled, alternative direction that showcases her deft pen and ethereal vocals in a novel guise. Her longtime producer, Ajay “Stint” Bhattacharyya, cited shoegaze bands like Cocteau Twins and Slowdive as influences that came up during recording sessions. For Claudio, wading into those uncharted waters became part of a larger shift in her career.

Until recently, the Cuban and Puerto Rican singer-songwriter — who in 2023, earned a Grammy for traditional R&B performance as a songwriter on Beyoncé’s slick “Renaissance” cut, “Plastic Off the Sofa” — preferred to toil in privacy, channeling her expression into songwriting more than social media. But this year, she’s inviting the outside world to experience her personality with a new interview series on YouTube titled “Fall In Love With…”

To hear her tell it, she’s eager for the effort to help fans and listeners see the person she is behind the music. “I hope that people can listen to [the album] knowing that, yes, [I’m singing about what] I experienced, but I just pray that they are able to interpret it and relate it to their own life however they possibly can,” she says.

Sabrina Claudio presents her most earnest songwriting yet in her newest album, released June 9.

(Baylee Kiesselbach)

Come July, she’ll embark on a U.S. tour with rappers Russ and Big Sean; soon after, she’ll make her acting debut in a short film directed by filmmaker and best friend Jazmin Garcia-Larracuente, who was inspired by early drafts of songs off “Fall In Love With Her” to write a script. “I’m very proud of myself,” Claudio says. “I think I killed it, and I’m excited for everybody to see it.”

In her latest interview with The Times, she spoke of the intimacy required in songwriting with others, the possibility of an all-Spanish EP and her approach to storytelling.

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

After releasing your last album, 2022’s “Based on a Feeling,” you focused on writing for other artists. Is that usually how it goes between albums for you?
Typically [after] I finish an album, I always go through the phase [when] I need to take a break because creatively I’m worn out. I wouldn’t do anything, which actually only emphasized the lack of motivation to continue and make more music. But this time around, I wanted to remain creative, and the best way to do that was to get in rooms with other creatives to help them get into their world, rather than always having to focus on mine.

I thought it was going to be difficult for me, because I’m not a natural collaborator. Before I was very anti-having songwriters in my room. It was a whole ego thing for me … but I loved it so much that I ended up doing it for much longer than I was anticipating. I find so much inspiration being in rooms with artists for other projects.

On this album you worked on some of the tracks with a songwriter, Nasri Atweh. I’m curious if there was hesitation to share your own process with someone else?
There was a time in my life when I [felt] obligated to have writers in my room. My guard was up. It’s not because I don’t think that these songwriters were amazing, because they were. Some of my favorite songs I wrote with another person, like “Problem With You” off [my album] “Truth Is.” But for some reason, my brain would say if I didn’t do it 100%, then it’s not mine. And that’s so not the reality of making art.

With Nasri, he’s my manager’s brother. I met Nasri 10 years ago. I’m glad that it happened when it did. Being the songwriter in the room for other people put things into perspective, because I realized how important collaboration was. Nasri was able to eject things from me that I didn’t even know existed. I’m on a different wavelength now.

Working with a songwriter is like an intimate therapy session.
I’m an extremely private person. I think the past couple years, people in my life have helped me to get out of my shell and have shown me how important vulnerability is. I didn’t even want to expose myself, which is why I tend to write from experiences that I technically didn’t experience, or from conversations with others, or movies. It was a protective layer. But now I’m like, you know what? I’m gonna tell y’all everything, how about that? [laughs] And it’s worked out!

You’ve said that when it comes to songwriting, you usually let yourself be led by the music, then the lyrics. Can you tell me more about “One Word” and how that track came to be? It’s one of the most powerful songs on the album.
I wrote that during a heartbreak. I wanted to talk about an experience I had with a person I felt very deeply for, [who] essentially didn’t fight for me to stay. But it was the biggest act of love that he could have done for me.

I worked with my producer Stint, [who] I work with all the time, and Heavy Mellow. He was heavy on this project, no pun intended. I was venting,; I was really heartbroken. I was finding comfort in these men that I’ve known and trying to get their perspective on things.

Another song is “Worse Than Me,” which sounds completely different from the rest of the tracks. It’s a little more assertive and seductive, with trip-hop-inspired drums. How did that come to be?
Before I discovered the new sound [of] the album, I still was gravitating towards my typical R&B, neo-soul-type vibes. I was just trying to get back in the groove of Sabrina Claudio, quote-unquote, because I was just coming out of writing for everybody else. I was trying to tap back into my own world.

And I think I needed one sassy song. [laughs] That’s kind of what I’m known for: the sass, the crying, or the sexy. And I just felt like if I didn’t have the sexy, I at least needed to have the sassy.

This is the first time you’ve really worked with a more alternative sound — did you find yourself accessing parts of yourself that the traditional R&B sound didn’t?
Oh, absolutely! I love working with Stint and all of my producers because they have such a wide palette when it comes to music. Genres I never grew up listening to — all these sounds are new. It pulls different things out of me that I wouldn’t be able to get if it was my traditional R&B sound. And naturally, I’m always going to do that because that’s just how I am, but it was interesting to hear where my R&B and soul brain goes over these more alternative rock/indie vibes.

“My fans are able to see who I am as a person and how deeply I love, how loyal I am,” Claudio said of her interview series, “Fall in Love With…”

(Baylee Kiesselbach)

For example, “Detoxing” — I wrote that song with Nasri, but we didn’t have the outro. So I took it to Stint, and he pulled up all these references of bands [like Radiohead], and he was teaching me so much. And then he [said], “You know what, at the end I want to do something really big and really rock. I want to break it down. But then I want people to be shocked. I want you to belt, and I want you to say something, and I want you to purge, and I want you to take the concept of the song and really just yell it like you’re just trying to get rid of something.” I listened back, and I’m even shocked at some of the things that I was able to tap into. I don’t belt! [laughs] I didn’t even know I could do that!

You have the song “Mi Luz” on the album, which is the first time you’ve included a Spanish song in an LP. What made you feel this was the right time to finally do that?
First of all, I don’t understand why I’ve never added a Spanish record to any of my albums. I listen to a lot of Spanish music in my daily life, a lot of reggaetón. You’d be surprised, my music is so calm and emotional … and then I’m twerking in my car listening to reggaetón. [laughs] So I felt in the sense of wanting to evolve, I feel now’s the time. And the process is really interesting, because my brain doesn’t actually think in Spanish, especially when it comes to songwriting.

Any Spanish record [of mine] you’ve heard, I’ve done with Alejandra Alberti, who is also Cuban. She’s from Miami, she’s a Virgo, so we connected on all those things. I tell her what I want to say, and she just computes it in her brain and she translates it in a way that has taught me. “Mi Luz” [was] the first time I contributed lyrically in Spanish. And it was always something that I was afraid of doing, because I’m always afraid of sounding dumb. I don’t know why, but I have that fear. But I felt very comfortable, very safe with Ale.

Would you release an EP of Spanish tracks?
I think I would! If I have Ale, I think we could probably knock out an EP very quickly. I’d be down.

You said in your recent Genius video that you really want reciprocal love because there’s only so much self-love you can give yourself. Is there any difference in your work depending on how your personal life is going, or do you manage to block out the noise?
I get very consumed by whatever I’m most passionate about in the moment. When I’m talking to somebody or I’m dating somebody, I do have the tendency to revolve my world around whatever we’re building. So when I’m dealing with that, I do find that I put my career second. Because I crave love very badly — which is toxic for me — I’m willing to nurture.

I’m pretty confident in my career. It’s the one thing I have control over. Everything’s amazing, and I get to make music whenever I want. But I don’t necessarily have control over the relationship that I’m trying to build, so I get very consumed and I put that first. But I’m hoping that if I get into something else that’s much healthier and not destroying our mental health, then I can do both at the same time! I just have to find that person first.

You’ve acknowledged that you’re a private artist, but I really like what I’ve seen so far from your new interview series, “Fall In Love With…” Can you tell me how the idea of doing that came about?
I have to say I was anti-miniseries, but my manager, Alyce, told me in the beginning stages of [making] this album, “The music, as vulnerable as it is — nobody’s going to relate to it or feel the depth of it if they don’t know who you are as a human.” She said, “Nobody knows that you’re funny; nobody knows that you’re outgoing. You’re not this mysterious person that you think you are, and you need to show people that.”

So at first, it annoyed me, because I was like, ugh, not me having to do things online. [laughs] I think doing this type of content was uncomfortable for me. I said, “If you guys want me to do this, I don’t want to be doing 20 episodes. I want four episodes, and I want it to be with people I know and I love and I will be comfortable with.”

And it turned into “Fall In Love With…” and I just thought it was special. I love to give credit to the people who have loved me through every stage of my life. And in the midst of it, my fans are able to see who I am as a person and how deeply I love, how loyal I am. And that opened the door to just so many other things. I just became so much more open-minded.

Roger Nichols, the songwriter who penned “We’ve Only Just Begun” and other hits for folk-rock duo the Carpenters, has died. He was 84.

Nichols’ death on May 17 was confirmed in a social media post from Nichols’ longtime songwriting partner, Paul Williams. He did not list a cause of death.

“The first song Roger Nichols and I wrote was called ‘It’s hard to say goodbye …’ Sadly, we hit the nail on the head. Roger Nichols passed away peacefully four days ago, at home with his beautiful family,” Williams wrote. “His wife Terry and the daughters he was so proud of, Claire and Caitlin at his side.

“He was as disciplined as he was talented,” Williams continued. “The words were born of the beauty in his completed melodies. I wrote what I heard, note for note …word for word. The lyrics waiting in the emotion already in his music. He made it easy.”

Nichols, a Montana native, released his first solo LP, “Roger Nichols & the Small Circle of Friends,” on A&M Records in 1968. It’s now regarded as a cult classic in the California pop-rock canon, with guest credits from Randy Newman, Van Dyke Parks and Lenny Waronker. However, he earned his big break as a songwriter after he penned an unexpectedly poignant jingle for a Crocker-Citizens National Bank commercial.

Richard Carpenter, who formed the popular duo with his sister Karen, heard the tune on television and asked if Nichols and Williams had a full version of the song. They quickly extended it into a tune that became the duo’s 1970 smash “We’ve Only Just Begun.” The single was nominated for song of the year at the following Grammys.

With Williams (and other lyricists), Nichols co-wrote many of the Carpenters’ most beloved songs, including “Rainy Days and Mondays,” “I Won’t Last a Day Without You,” “Let Me Be the One” and “I Kept on Loving You.” Beyond his hits for the Carpenters, Nichols co-wrote songs that were recorded by the Monkees, Barbra Streisand, Diana Ross, Petula Clark and Art Garfunkel, among many others.

In a comment on Williams’ post, Nichols’ daughter Claire wrote, “My mom, Terri, and my sisters, Caroline and Caitlin, are all so proud of the man he was, and are in awe of the legacy he leaves.”