Nashville, TN (April 17, 2017) – Spirit Music Nashville has continued its aggressive push to expand its presence in country music with the catalog acquisition of Cary Barlowe, as announced today by David Renzer, Chairman, Spirit Music Group and Daniel Hill, President, Spirit Music Nashville. One of the most talented and in-demand writers in Nashville, Barlowe was named SESAC Songwriter of the Year in 2015.
“We are thrilled to welcome the amazing catalogue of Cary Barlow to our growing Spirit Music Nashville family,” said David Renzer.
“Cary is such a talented and versatile writer, and this catalog reflects that fact in every way. We are very pleased that Cary has entrusted Spirit Music Nashville with this great collection of songs,” said Daniel Hill.
Over the past few years, Cary Barlowe has written some of the most popular and successful songs in country music, including four No. 1 country hits with Dustin Lynch (“Where It’s At”), Florida Georgia Line (“Sun Daze”), Lady Antebellum (“American Honey”), and Billy Currington (“It Don’t Hurt Like It Used To”). He’s also had nine No. 1 Christian songs with Toby Mac (“Made to Love,” “I’m for You,” “Tonight,” “City On Our Knees,” “Hold On,” “Christmas this Year,” “One World,” “Get Back Up,” and “Feel It”) as well as three Grammy nominations for Contemporary/Gospel Song of the Year with Toby.
Other prominent songs written by Barlowe include “Beat Up Bible” by Little Big Town; “Good Good” and “Guys and Girls” by Florida Georgia Line; “Making Me Say” by Brett Young; “Good Morning” by American Idol alum Mandisa; and “Just Around the Corner” by Martina McBride, to name a few. Barlowe also has upcoming cuts slated to be released by leading artists Rascal Flatts and Dan Tyminski, among others.
In July of 2015, Spirit Music Group announced its acquisition of Cal IV Entertainment — the established and successful Nashville-based independent music publisher, production, and artist management company. The move marked Spirit’s first official presence on Music Row, bringing top writers, artists, and staff into the fold along with 25 number one copyrights and top ten singles. Through the deal, Spirit became the publisher of an active writer roster including hit-makers Eric Paslay, Jim Collins and Rose Falcon. In addition, Spirit acquired the publishing rights to number one copyrights and numerous top ten singles including such hits as Faith Hill’s “Breathe”, Keith Urban’s “Stupid Boy”, Tim McGraw’s “Watch The Wind Blow By”, and Jason Aldean’s “Big Green Tractor”, as well as an extensive catalog of songs by former Cal IV writers such as Dave Berg (Billboard’s 2007 Country Songwriter of the Year, NSAI’s 2007 Songwriter of the Year, ASCAP’s 2008 Country Songwriter of the Year), Jim McBride, Odie Blackmon, Marla Cannon-Goodman, Trent Tomlinson, Holly Lamar, Georgia Middleman (Blue Sky Riders with Kenny Loggins and Gary Burr) and Ted Russell Kamp (Shooter Jennings), among many others.
Spirit next acquired the StyleSonic catalog, bringing another four No. 1 country hits to its portfolio as well as over fifteen Top 20 country songs spanning the last decade. The StyleSonic catalog includes some of today’s most popular songs in country music recorded by Nashville stars such as Tim McGraw, Dierks Bentley, Taylor Swift, and Martina McBride, to name a few.
In January 2016, Spirit continued to expand its footprint in the country music space by striking a multi-faceted agreement with Nashville hit producer, songwriter, and publishing executive, Frank Rogers (who has won Music Row’s Producer of the Year award three times). Through the agreement, Spirit acquired Rogers’ interest in copyrights of the respected Nashville publisher Sea Gayle Music which was named ASCAP Country Music Awards Publisher of the Year in 2010 and 2011, and features a catalog of 40 No. 1 hits along with an impressive roster of artists and writers. Rogers also formed a JV with Spirit, joined the company roster as a songwriter and is bringing new talent to the company.
ABOUT SPIRIT MUSIC:
Spirit Music Group, founded in 1995, is one of the world’s leading independent music publishers, owning and/or managing more than 75,000 songs spanning seven decades and every musical genre. The company’s repertoire reflects some of the most beloved songs and songwriters of all time, including hits by Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, Elvis Presley, Dion, Aretha Franklin, B.B. King, Santana, The Beach Boys, Barbra Streisand, Gladys Knight, Alice Cooper, Pure Prairie League, Chicago, Crosby, Stills & Nash, The Eagles, Brad Paisley, Chaka Khan, Anita Baker, The Go-Go’s, Madonna, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Mariah Carey, Jay-Z, Ricky Martin, Keith Urban, Usher, Dido, Jewel, Jason Aldean and Mary J. Blige; the complete catalogs of such iconic songwriters and writer/artists as Pete Townshend, Marc Bolan, Boz Scaggs, The Marshall Tucker Band, Toto, Billy Squier, Graham Nash, Joe Walsh, Charles Mingus, Alan and Marilyn Bergman, Henry Mancini, T.Bone Burnett, Rick Nowels, C&C Music Factory; and the breakthrough work of such newer artists as James Bay, John Newman, Chris Stapleton, Sam Hunt, Scissor Sisters, Matt & Kim, Kodaline, Zooey Deschanel, Eric Paslay, and Big Data.
Spirit has earned a strong reputation as an aggressive royalty administrator and a peerless promoter of its songs into film, television and advertising productions as well as a wide range of new media. In recent years, Spirit has helped transform the publisher’s role beyond royalty collection and song promotion to proactive career and legacy partnership by creating and executing marketing plans to revitalize its clients’ songs and expand their brands.
Spirit Music Group is headquartered in New York with offices in London, Los Angeles, Nashville and the Netherlands. Spirit is a portfolio company of Pegasus Capital Advisors, the New York-based private equity fund manager that has been providing creative capital and strategic solutions to growth companies since 1996.
