Representatives from ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, several publishing companies and A&R groups joined Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business (CEMB) faculty, staff and students on Oct. 21 at Ocean Way Studio A for an intimate reception celebrating the launch of Bruin Publishing, Belmont’s newly established publishing company. In addition to student creator Kevin Grosch’s poignant description of the inception, purpose and goals of the company, attendees got a taste of the talent Bruin Publishing will work with through performances from student songwriters Matt Wright, Keith Johnson, Jena Rickards and Claire Dunn.
Bruin Publishing is completely student-run, working exclusively with currently enrolled student songwriters, engineers, musicians and other music business students. Bruin Publishing is being supported by the Center for Entrepreneurship, which will be assisting hte students with the logistics of running a business. The primary goal of Bruin Publishing is to give students invaluable hands-on experience and a solid understanding of how they will interact with publishers, record labels and other business professionals in the industry. Rather than competing with established music publishers, Bruin Publishing will likely serve as an incubator for developing writers who will graduate with a better understanding of the publishing process and be better prepared and equipped to develop into professional writers.
“We will develop a catalog of the best works of Belmont songwriters, and we will showcase their writing and performing talents at regular writers’ nights at leading Nashville venues,” explains Grosch of the enterprise. “Every song that is part of our catalog will be the subject of a single song agreement, but because the purpose of Bruin is solely to benefit our students, there will be absolutely no exclusive writer agreements. Our student engineers, musicians and vocalists will be charged with producing quality recordings of the songs in our catalog, and our music business students will provide catalog administration, organizational functions and song plugging services.”
Bruin Publishing aims to provide a benefit for the Nashville music industry, as well, by offering access to the tremendous songs being crafted by Belmont students and by helping establish professional track records for Belmont writers, making them much more attractive candidates for publishing companies and record labels following graduation.
Curb College Strategic Programs Director Sarah Cates added, “Most importantly, we view Bruin Publishing as a training ground for success for all of our students – and it is our goal that the industry will be able to count on Bruin Publishing credentials as a guarantee that our graduates will be able to hit the ground running and perform to the highest professional standards.”
