The 2nd annual Date with a Publisher event was held at the MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas, Nevada on May 16 – 18. Broadjam would like to congratulate this year’s winners: Tina Dod, Liz Miller, Ed Williams, Claire Ulanoff and Jim Bennett. Roy and a couple other Broadjam staff members met the writers on Friday evening and had dinner together. Saturday morning was the Date with a Publisher event, where the writers got some face time with six music industry guests: Lana Israel – CEO of The Major Line, Rex Benson – Rex Benson Publishing, Mike Molinar – co-founder of Elevation Music Publishing, BJ Hill – Director of A&R at Warner/Chappell, and Tim Fink – the Associate Vice President for SESAC Writer/Publisher Relations Department. The writers also met with Edgar Struble. Edgar works as a Music Director and composer and has worked on both the Academy of Country Music Awards and American Music Awards shows.

We also hooked the writers up with tickets to the Academy of Country Music New Artists Show on Saturday night, the ACM award show on Sunday night, and the All Star Jam. All three shows featured the best Country music talent with performances by Miranda Lambert, Jake Owen, Rodney Atkins, Kenny Chesney, Taylor Swift, and many more.

We hope the writers had a great time, and we look forward to hosting this contest again next year.

I am proud to announce the selections for the 2nd Annual Date With A Publisher in Las Vegas. This was an extraordinary year for the contest, with hundreds of impressive song submissions. It made a fun job very difficult, but we finally settled on the following artists:

• Jim Bennett, “Last Quarter Friend” – Jim is a great balladeer whose songs make you anxious to hear the next line. His songs have been runner-up and finalist in the VH1 Song of the Year contest and he can write in many genres as well.

• Claire Ulanoff, “Ready To Meet Me” – Claire writes songs with meaning, and it’s clear that a lot of thought goes into the lyric.

• Liz Miller, “When Did Hell Freeze Over” – Liz is one of the best songwriters around. Not only is she prolific, her hooks stick in your head for days.

• Tina Dod, “It’s A God Thing” – Tina is an awarding winning songwriter. This song also placed in the Top 5 of the CMT/NSAI songwriting competition.

• The final artist has been selected but has not confirmed. Check back soon to find out who will fill the final spot.

Songs from all of these artists can be found in my ACM Date playlist.

This year, we were also very lucky to work with a group of impressive and capable publishers:

• Missy Roberts – Creative Director, Stage 3 Music

• Lana Israel – CEO of The Major Line, a New York based company that develops innovative music-related products and platforms that she co-founded with music industry veteran Bob Doyle.

• Rex Benson – owner of three publishing companies and represents the #1 Smash Hit Single, “Buy Me a Rose” by Kenny Rogers.

• Mike Molinar – co-founded Elevation Music Publishing with music publishing veteran Martha Irwin, and serves as the company’s Creative Principal/GM.

• BJ Hill – Director of A&R at Warner/Chappell