Melinda Newman

1 week ago | billboard.com | Jessica Nicholson |Kristin Robinson |Tom Roland |Melinda Newman

By the time Nashville-based digital marketer Jennie Smythe launched her company Girlilla Marketing in 2008, she had already gained significant experience working in marketing and promotion for companies including Hollywood Records, Yahoo Music, and Elektra. She also forged her path in digital marketing as the music industry was undergoing the profound transition to a primarily digital medium. “A portion of it was just being in the right place at the right time,” she recalls to Billboard.

1 week ago | billboard.com | Kristin Robinson |Tom Roland |Melinda Newman |Mackenzie Cummings-Grady

EMPIRE Publishing has hired !llmind as a senior vp of A&R. As part of his duties, the tech entrepreneur and Grammy-winning producer, who has worked with Drake, The Carters, Eminem, Ye, Nicki Minaj, Nathy Peluso, Romeo Santo and more, will screen songs and provide feedback, based on his production expertise. !llmind will also act as a bridge between EMPIRE’s publishing and label arms.

1 week ago | billboard.com | Tom Roland |Melinda Newman |Mackenzie Cummings-Grady |Chris Eggertsen

Fiddler Deanie Richardson was about to go onstage for a sound check at the Grand Ole Opry in 2023 when she got word that her father had died. He had abused Richardson verbally, physically and — during her teens — sexually. She had longed for his passing for years, but now that the moment had come, she experienced a complicated mix of emotions. She was sad to have never had the kind of supportive dad that she deserved. But she simultaneously sensed something new and hopeful.

1 week ago | billboard.com | Melinda Newman |Mackenzie Cummings-Grady |Chris Eggertsen |Jessica Nicholson

Los Angeles-based Interscope Geffen A&M (IGA) Records has set down roots in Nashville with the relaunch of the iconic Lost Highway imprint. Former Thirty Tigers executive Robert Knotts and Universal Music Group Nashville (UMGN) executive Jake Gear will serve as co-heads and executive vps of the resurrected label.   “Lost Highway carved out a special place in the remarkable musical legacy of Nashville.

2 weeks ago | billboard.com | Melinda Newman

Upon the arrival of Tracy Chapman’s self-titled debut on April 5, 1988, Billboard heralded the album as filled with “rich, haunting music,” praising both Chapman’s “husky, forceful voice” that “recalls Phoebe Snow and Joni Mitchell” and her poignant writing that tackled racism, injustice and an aspirational yearning for a better life.