Kobalt inks publishing cope with nation songwriter Derrick Southerland, acquires portion of track catalog

Unbiased music writer Kobalt has signed a worldwide publishing cope with Derrick Southerland, the Grammy- and Nation Music Awards-nominated songwriter finest identified for Ingrid Andress’ hit Extra Hearts Than Mine.

As a part of the deal, Kobalt has acquired a portion of Southerland’s track catalog, the corporate mentioned in an announcement on Thursday (July 10). The worth of the transaction was not disclosed.

Sutherland’s songs have collected greater than 1 billion streams and secured movie and TV placements with ABC, Hallmark and Netflix, amongst others. He was nominated for a Greatest Nation Music award on the 63rd Annual Grammys for Extra Hearts Than Mine, which picked up the Music of the Yr prize on the Nashville Songwriters Affiliation Worldwide awards in 2020, in addition to Music of the Yr on the MusicRow awards.

Sutherland additionally labored with Andress on the gold-certified Woman Like, in addition to Seeing Somebody Else and Yearbook, which made Rolling Stone’s listing of 100 Greatest Songs of 2022.

Past his work with Andress, Sutherland has co-written songs for Carrie Underwood, Jordan Davis, Vince Gill, Fletcher, Laci Kaye Sales space, Hunter Hayes, Breland, Charlotte Sands, Excessive Valley, Charles Kelley, Muscadine Bloodline, Tanner Adell, Blair Davie and Dallas Smith, amongst many others.

He labored on Kane Brown’s gold-certified Like A Rodeo and Joshua Bassett’s Disaster, which NPR named one of many Prime 10 Songs of 2021. Sutherland shares a writing credit score on Mitchell Tenpenny’s present hit Similar Moon.

“I’m so excited to be partnering with Kobalt,” Southerland mentioned.

“After I met with [Kobalt Music Group CEO] Laurent Hubert, [President and COO] Jeannette Perez, [General Manager/SVP of Creative at Kobalt Nashville] Stephanie Cox, [EVP/Head of US Creative] Rani Hancock, [Head of Creative UK] Kenny McGoff and so many others of the artistic staff, I knew this was the place I wanted to be.

“[Kobalt’s] enthusiasm not solely about my writing and songs, however my desires and imaginative and prescient for the long run made this the right partnership to assist me accomplish my targets.”

Derrick Southerland

“Their enthusiasm not solely about my writing and songs, however my desires and imaginative and prescient for the long run made this the right partnership to assist me accomplish my targets. Large because of [Senior Creative Director] Kevin [Lane], who was with me for my first main label exterior minimize and introduced me to this superb staff. I’m trying ahead to what’s coming on this subsequent chapter of our careers.”

Stephanie Cox added: “Derrick is among the most gifted, prolific songwriters working in Nashville at the moment. He has the extremely distinctive capacity to put in writing throughout genres which makes him an ideal match for Kobalt’s world ecosystem.”

“Derrick and I had the chance to work collectively early in our careers, and I’m ecstatic to have the chance to work with him once more,” Lane mentioned.

“His capacity to craft songs that permeate the Nashville group whereas having multi-genre influence is uncommon. Mix that along with his relentless work ethic, and you’ve got a real artistic drive to be reckoned with. The sky’s the restrict for what we are able to accomplish collectively, and I’m so excited to see the place this partnership takes us.”

For Francisco Companions-owned Kobalt, the cope with Southerland comes within the wake of numerous new signings and initiatives. The corporate shaped a three way partnership with rising markets-focused label Heatwave final fall, following that up with a worldwide publishing admin deal with Música Mexicana indie file label Okay Music in Might.

“Derrick is among the most gifted, prolific songwriters working in Nashville at the moment.”

Stephanie Cox, Kobalt

Kobalt additionally inked a publishing admin deal with The Circuit Group, a music firm shaped by trade veterans to accumulate stakes in catalogs, and a worldwide licensing deal with blockchain-powered music platform Audius.

It additionally signed a music publishing admin deal with licensing platform Slipstream, which included Kobalt taking a stake within the firm.

Earlier this 12 months, Kobalt launched Kosign, a brand new publishing platform aimed toward rising artists and songwriters with the objective of addressing the issue of uncollected royalties.

SVP and Head of Kosign Jason Feinberg just lately advised MBW that the platform already represents 12,000 songs.Music Enterprise Worldwide