Rico Love takes top Honors at the 17th Annual SESAC POP AWARDS

photo credit at the bottom

On May 14th, 2013 in New York City the SESAC Pop Awards  Rico Love received the title of Songwriter of the Year for the third year in a row. Rico Love captured top honors at the event taking home both Songwriter of the Year and Song of the Year awards for his hit, "Heart Attack" recorded by Trey Songz. 

Daniel Glass, renowned CEO and Founder of Glassnote Records was one of the evening's many highlights receiving the "Visionary Award".Glass is known for recognizing and cultivating talent before anyone else. Glass launched Glassnote Entertainment Group in 2007, which encompasses a thriving music label, publishing company and merchandising arm. Under the guide, inspiration, and vision of Glass, Glassnote Records has gone on to identify and develop internationally successful artists including the Grammy Award-winning groups Mumford & Sons and Phoenix, as well as Two Door Cinema Club, Childish Gambino, The Temper Trap and many more notable artists.  

A complete list of honorees follows:

Songwriter of the Year:

Rico Love

Song of the Year:

"Heart Attack

Written by Rico Love

Published by: Sony ATV Sounds, Rico Love Is Still A Rapper

Publisher of the Year:

Sony ATV Sounds

Visionary Award:

Daniel Glass

Video Performance Award:

PSY   

"4 AM"

Recorded by: Melanie Fiona

Songwriter: Rico Love, Earl Hood, Eric Goudy II

Publisher(s): Sony ATV Sounds, Rico Love Is Still A Rapper, E Hood 66 Music, Grandmas Boy

"Finally Found You"

Recorded by: Enrique Iglesias feat. Sammy Adams

Songwriter: Jacob Luttrell

Publisher(s): LSLX Music, Artist Publishing Group East

"Gangnam Style"

Recorded by: Psy

Songwriter: Psy

Publisher(s): Universal Tunes, Sony ATV Sounds

"Heart Attack"

Recorded by: Trey Songz

Songwriter: Rico Love

Publisher(s): Sony ATV Sounds, Rico Love Is Still A Rapper

"I Can Only Imagine"

Recorded by: David Guetta feat. Chris Brown & Lil Wayne

Songwriter: Jacob Luttrell

Publisher(s): LSLX Music, Artist Publishing Group East

"I Will Wait"

Recorded by: Mumford & Sons

Songwriter(s): Ben Lovett, Ted Dwane, Marcus Mumford, Winston Marshall

Publisher: Universal-PolyGram Intl Tunes Inc 

"Cough Syrup"

Recorded by: Young The Giant

Songwriter(s): Ehson Hashemian, Eric Cannata, François Comtois, Jacob Tilley, Sameer Gadhia

Publisher(s): Ehson Hashemian, EricC Publishing, The Jakes, Jacob Tilley, Mi Fiammetta Inc., Robot of the Century Tunes

"Let's Talk"

Recorded by: Omarion feat. Rick Ross

Songwriter(s): Omarion

Publisher: Mr Granberry OS Music, Sony ATV Sounds

"Mr. Wrong"

Recorded by: Mary J. Blige feat. Drake

Songwriter(s): Rico Love

Publisher(s): Sony ATV Sounds, Rico Love Is Still A Rapper

"Next Breath"

Recorded by: Tank

Songwriter: Sammie

Publisher(s): Sammies Music Library

"Sabotage"

Recorded by: Wale feat. Lloyd

Songwriter: A. Nolan Kramer, Daniel Friedman, Samuel Dew 

Publisher(s): Fat Bread Publishing, Nickel Muse, By the Chi Publishing  

"Sweet Love"  

Recorded by: Chris Brown feat. Wiz Khalifa & Big Sean  

Songwriter: Nate "Danja" Hills  

Publisher: Danjahandz Muzik 

"Till I Die"

Recorded by: Chris Brown feat. Wiz Khalifa & Big Sean

Songwriter: Nate "Danja" Hills

Publisher: Danjahandz Muzik

"Touch'N You"

Recorded by: Rick Ross feat. Usher

Songwriter(s): Rico Love

Publisher(s): Rico Love Is Still A Rapper, Sony ATV Sounds

"Turn Up The Music"

Recorded by: Chris Brown

Songwriter(s): Alexander Palmer, Harvey Mason, Jr.  

Publisher(s): Fuego Songs Publishing, BMG Silver Songs US, Multisongs

"Wild Ones"

Recorded by: Flo Rida feat. Sia

Songwriter: Jacob Luttrell

Publisher(s): LSLX Music, Artist Publishing Group East

"Bottoms Up"

Recorded by: Trey Songz feat. Nicki Minaj

Songwriter: Milton "Track Dealer" James

Publisher(s): iHip Hop Music, Track Stash Publishing

"Just A Kiss"

Recorded by: Lady Antebellum

Songwriter: Hillary Scott

Publisher(s): Sony ATV Sounds, Hillary Dawn Songs

"I'm On One"

Recorded by: DJ Khaled feat. Drake, Rick Ross & Lil Wayne

Songwriter: Nikhil Seetharam

Publisher(s): Kromatik Music, Sony ATV Sounds

"Make Me Proud"

Recorded by: Drake feat. Nicki Minaj

Songwriter: Nikhil Seetharam

Publisher: Sony ATV Sounds, Kromatik Music

"Motivation"

Recorded by: Kelly Rowland feat. Lil Wayne

Songwriter: Rico Love

Publisher(s): Sony ATV Sounds, Rico Love Is Still A Rapper

"Tonight (I'm Lovin' You)"

Recorded by: Enrique Iglesias feat. Ludacris

Songwriter: Jacob Luttrell

Publisher(s): LSLX Music, Artist Publishing Group East

"Lotus Flower Bomb"

Recorded by: Wale feat. Miguel

Songwriter: Samuel Dew

Publisher: By the Chi Publishing

"Without You"

Recorded by: David Guetta feat. Usher

Songwriter: Rico Love

Publisher(s): Sony ATV Sounds, Rico Love Is Still A Rapper

Established in 1930, SESAC is a service organization created to assist both the creators of music and music users through timely, efficient royalty collection and music licensing. SESAC maintains a diversified repertory that includes virtually all genres of music. Headquartered in Nashville, the company also has offices in New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Miami and London (www.sesac.com).

Photo: (L to R)- Hip-Hop artist and producer, Swizz Beatz; R&B singer and member of Destiny's Child, Michelle Williams; Songwriter of the Year and Song of the Year recipient, award winning producer and songwriter, Rico Love. (Photo credit: Shawn Ehlers) 

Mike Caren Discusses his Role as President of A&R for Warner Music Group

As President of A&R for all of Warner Music Group, Mike Caren has a lot of responsibility on his hands. But, what are those responsibilities? What does the President of A&R do? Does he operate as an A&R as well, or is he more tied to managing his A&R executives? Mike answers these questions in his own words and defines his role as President along with how he works in conjunction with his A&R executives. Ren also asks Mike how he balances his interests as a musician/songwriter/producer with his responsibilities running A&R for all his labels.

2011 SESAC Awards

On May 11^th, 2011 Entertainment Linx attended the 2011 SESAC Awards. Among the artists and award winners in attendance Rico Love took home the title of Songwriter of the year. In case you aren't familiar with the name, his resume includes Beyonce’s “Sweet Dreams”, Usher’s “There Goes My Baby”, and “Hey Daddy (Daddy’s Home)”.

Hillary Scott of the group Lady Antebellum also took home top honors winning Song of the Year for Lady Antebellum's “Need You Now.” The song is now over triple platinum and was at the top of the Billboard charts for 5 consecutive weeks.

Others in attendance included Bryan-Michael cox, Chrisette Michele, and Traci Hale just to name a few.

Established in 1930, SESAC is a service organization created to serve both the creators of music and music users through music licensing and timely, efficient royalty collection and distribution. The second oldest and fastest growing performing rights organization in the U.S., SESAC is known for its diversified repertory that includes genres ranging from Adult Contemporary, Urban, Jazz, Rock, Americana, Contemporary Christian, Latin, Country, Gospel, Dance, Classical and New Age. For more information on SESAC and their history visit their website, at http://www.sesac.com/About/History.aspx


Also be sure to check out our coverage below and on our youtube page.

By Chris Pizzolo and Maurice Willis

Family Force 5: Changing The Game For Christian Pop/Rock

Christian Pop Music. Usually the term conjures up images of sub-par music, poor production, and if you ever came across it on the radio, you'd change the channel as quickly as possible. The alternative/rock music has improved enough over the past ten years to be quite formidable with the addition of bands like August Burns Red, Underoath, and Reliant K. But pop music, not so much. With the release of Toby Mac's (formerly of DC Talk) first solo CD there appeared a glimmer of hope. His music was eclectic, blending genres like rap, reggae and rock. It was definitely something to make your ears twitch. That was back in 2001, and finally it seems that there might be a contender for the title of Pop King--Family Force 5.

This band hailing from Atlanta takes the term "Pop" to a whole other meaning. Last week I had the opportunity to attend Spirit West Coast, a Christian music festival that takes place every year in Monterey, CA. There I was able to witness firsthand the experience that is Family Force 5. Comprising of 3 brothers and 2 of their friends FF5 (as their known by their die hard fans) literally rocks your face off. Their live show consisted of lights, costumes, and what I found most interesting, a guy in the corner with a laptop displaying Logic and a wireless Midi keyboard. This seemingly innocuous man was the synth section, additional drum section, sound effects and on occasion an additional base line. As if this wasn't radical enough, the lead singer donned Hulk fists and grabbed a mic to sing their hit song "Put Ur Hands Up". I was surprised. There were lots of teenagers, which was to be expected. What wasn't were the youth leaders and parents in the back jumping and dancing to the music as well. You'd have thought it was a Duran Duran reunion tour. And yet there are still the naysayers. Those that think they're not "Christian enough". Apparently you can't be a Christian artist unless you use the name "Jesus" and the words "prayer" and "salvation" in every one of your songs. Who knew?

In an article on The Fish.com Solomon Olds, lead singer, addresses the negative comments:

"Christian music has a sound that is very safe and watered-down. There's a lot of kids that are into the lyrics, but the first names that you gravitate toward on the radio; if it's Snoop Dogg, if it's Eminem, if it's Michael W. Smith, the Newsboys; it's the music and the melodies and the beat of it. A lot [of] Christian music isn't done that way. It's done in a mold that sells to an older demographic...and that's totally fine. But if I hear an artist on the radio I've never heard, I know it's Christian music because anybody can pick it out...I don't think it appeals to a younger generation. They want something raw, something that's fun and exciting, something that's urgent, or something that has a message they can latch on to. There's a lot of bands out there that are teaching depression, that are talking about suicide, and stuff like that. Those are avenues that kids want to explore.But at Family Force 5 we want to give an alternative to that, where it's just as exciting, it's just as fun, it's just as urgent, but it has a positive message. And the positive message is, "We're here to rock the party all night long!"[1]

Now, it would be easy to think that the success of a band in Christian music is of no consequence to you. Not so. If you look at the numbers in the Christian music market you will find that while they are still affected by the current economic status, their artists still contend with mainstream artists on the Billboard Top 200. Gospel Duo Mary Mary's latest album debuted at #7 on the Billboard Top 200,[2] Toby Mac's latest album debuted at #27,[3] Underoath's 2006 album debuted at #2,[4] and Family Force 5's album debuted at #30.[5] Numbers like this don't lie and clearly Christian music fans support their artists. With the increasing popularity and quality of pop music by Toby Mac and now Family Force 5 there is a new market opening. So, to all the songwriters and producers who think the mainstream market is over saturated, try looking in a different direction. If you open your minds up to this new genre of music, you may be stretching your mind as well as your wallet size.

Sources:
[1] The Fish.com
[2] Mary Mary
[3] Toby Mac
[4]Underoath
[5]Family Force 5