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Welcome to the latest episode of Talking Trends, the weekly podcast from The music industry around the world – where we go far behind the headlines of news affecting the entertainment industry. Talking Trends is supported by Voly Music.
This week on Talking Trends, MBW Founder Tim Ingham posits that country music could be the biggest story in 2022 for the catalog-hungry world of the modern music industry.
Ingham notes that country music’s market share of total streaming (according to Nielsen/MRC Data) increased nearly 1% in 2021 from 2020 and 2% in 2021 from 2019.
He further points out that many of the country’s greatest all-time icons – from Dolly Parton to Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Patsy Cline and Garth Brooks – have yet to sell their song catalogs in the modern era.
Meanwhile, in the so-called “rock” genre, many of the most legendary artists (or their estates) have already sold out their catalogs of songs, including Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, David Bowie and Sting.
Josh Gruss, founder and CEO of Round Hill Music, joins Ingham in this episode. Round Hill made major acquisitions and deals with songwriters beginning in 2014.
These writers include a number of writers who contributed to the biggest overall and streaming album in the US in 2021: Dangerous by Morgan Wallen: the double album.
Gruss explains why Round Hill bet on country songwriters early on, and the rewards that move is now reaping for the New York-based company.
