ARROWS IN ACTION

Date Signed: January 2020

Label: N/A

Band Members: Victor Viramontes-Pattison, vocals; Jesse Frimmel, drums; Matthew Fowler, guitar

Type of Music: Pop-Rock / Alt-Rock

Management: Jacob McKay - Fly South, info@flysouthmusic.com

Booking: Jason Parent - APA, jparent@apa-agency.com

Legal: Bryan Christner - BKChristner, bryan@bkchristner.com

Publicity: Stephanie Estrada - Big Picture Media, stephanie@ bigpicturemediaonline.com

Web: arrowsinaction.com, instagram.com/arrowsinaction

Gainesville, FL trio Arrows in Action formed in 2019 while the three members were undergraduates at the University of Florida. At the same time, vocalist Victor Viramontes-Pattison worked at the student-run label Swamp Records where he met local music habitué Jacob McKay. The others were familiar with McKay through his music photography work, and since they all knew, liked and respected him, he was invited to manage the band. He’d always operated independently, but in the summer of 2022 McKay was tapped to join management powerhouse Fly South and brought Arrows in Action along. Fly South oversees the affairs of bands including Paramore, the Linda Lindas and Falling in Reverse.

“In 2018, I dropped a mixtape called Sink or Swim, which featured a song called ‘Heaven’ that was featured on the Joe Budden Podcast and began gaining a lot of traction,” Smith recalls. “From there I started doing a lot of freestyles, including at the BET Hip Hop Awards Cypher. I then met with Roc Nation and they believed in the vision and I signed.”

“Chain Gang” wasn’t Smith’s first release for Roc Nation, but it is a song that sums up his life and career quite beautifully. “’Chain Gang’ is about the streets of Philly, crafted into audio artwork,” he says. “This particular song pays homage to state property and featured Don Cannon as well.”

“The ‘Chain Gang’ video is a soft launch to what I'm kicking off this year,” he said earlier in a statement. “The mixtape era is my direct inspiration to pick up a pen in the first place. This record is all of those moments wrapped into a new musical mural—an appreciation to hip-hop and what this feel has done for the streets of Philly.”

Smith has opened for rap icons such as Rick Ross, Jeezy, DMX, Juelz Santana and Ice Cube, and he’s planning on having a big 2023. “I plan to dominate 2023 with music, videos, content, fashion, film and culture,” Smith says. “My new EP Hope Dealer is coming soon and there’s an album on the way.”

Renaissance man Smith writes lyrics about his admiration for Michelle Obama, while questioning Congress for not passing laws against lynching, and expressing his love for his hometown. He’s his own man and he’s going to play this rap game his own way. – Brett Callwood

“We met Jacob [McKay] when he was taking photos of bands,” guitarist Matt Fowler recalls. “He was super-hungry, went to shows and offered his photo services. He was lightly managing a friend’s band, and I think that Jesse [Frimmel, drummer] suggested that we ask him to manage us. We didn’t have a ton of management experience, but we had a feeling about him. Also, we didn’t know any other managers. We liked him a lot. He was methodical and organized in everything he did. There’s no one I trust more in the world than Jacob.”

“I recognized his work ethic when we were both with Swamp Records,” Viramontes-Pattison adds. “He was on the programming team, but he went way beyond that and helped artists do other things. Based on that, we knew he could help [us].”

Visibility is often key and being seen in the scene can bolster credibility. “We were playing a show in Gainesville with a band that he managed,” Frimmel recollects. “He also did some photos for us.”

Although originally from Gainesville, Arrows in Action now makes its base in the Midwest music mecca of Nashville. Built To Last dropped on May 26 and the accompanying tour will be the first nationwide jaunt for the trio. “We’ve headlined before on some short runs, but this is our first full U.S. tour, with a bit of Canada,” Viramontes-Pattison explains. “We’re excited about it.” The band has released four EPs and as many singles, but Built To Last is its debut full-length record. – Rob

Putnam

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AIMP L.A. AWARDS

The L.A. Chapter of the Association of Independent Music Publishers has presented Jaqueline Gibson with the 4th annual Linda Komorsky Scholarship. Gibson is slated to be a Junior in the Fall, pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Music Industry Studies, with minors in Communication.

BMI CELEBRATES NO. 1'S

BMI celebrated breakout artist Bailey Zimmerman’s recent chart-toppers, joining cowriters behind “Fall In Love “Rock and a Hard Place.” Taylor Guitars presented each BMI writer a custom guitar. Pictured (l-r): Jack Hackworth, Jet Harvey, Heath Warren, Bailey Zimmerman, Austin Shawn

SESAC Americana Nominees

With the awards taking place in the Fall, SESAC congratulated all the nominees for the annual Americana Music Association Honors & Awards, including Artist of the Year nominees Sierra Ferrell and Margo Price, Album of the Year nominees Margo Price and Strays, and Song of the Year nominees Margo Price and Jeremy Ivey for song, “Change of Heart.”

The awards are set to take place at Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium, from Sept. 19-23, 2023. Full list of nominees and details at: americanamusic.org

Songwriters HoF

The Songwriters Hall of Fame has unveiled “The Power of Song: A Songwriters Hall of Fame Exhibit,” a traveling exhibit that runs through Sept. 4, 2023 at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles. Celebrating world-renown songwriters, the exhibit includes rare artifacts and memorabilia, handwritten lyrics, sheet music, instruments, interactive displays, and more.

Curated in partnership with the Grammy Museum, the display gives insights into the art of songwriting and celebrates the work and legacy of Hall of Fame inductees and other notable artists. Features include items from Diane Warren, Mariah Carey, Cyndi Lauper, Steve Dorff, Desmond Child, Eric Clapton, Will Jennings, Billy Steinberg, and many others. More at songhall.org

ASCAP & BMI Task Force

Frustrated by the AI track explosion, ASCAP and BMI have formed a joint task force to address suspicious musical work registrations. The collaborative group will work to keep track of musical registrations that “can result in financial loss or operational inefficiencies.” The idea behind the collaborative effort is to maintain data integrity with respect to registrations, raise awareness around suspicious activity, and to share best practice information internationally.

BMI President and CEO Mike O’Neill adds that “Bad actors don’t just limit themselves to one company, or one territory, and the more we can collaborate on this issue, the better it is for everyone involved.” ASCAP head Elizabeth Matthews echoed the need for “all collective management organization and DSPs” to tackle fraud.

CEMM Secures Hartman

U.K.-based Cutting Edge Media

Music has moved into pop music, purchasing the catalog of songwriter-producer Jamie Hartman, whose credits include Rag ‘n’ Bone Man, Calvin Harris, Kyogo, Lewis Capaldi, etc. The deal includes royalties from Hartman’s commercials, TV and film placements which encompass work written for Carole King, Jennifer Hudson, and Christina Aguilera. While Hartman continues to be published by Reservoir, the CEMM purchase covers a majority of his writer’s share.

After partnering with affiliates of Biantyre Capital (London) to secure $125 million for film and TV music publishing acquisitions in 2022, CEMM secured a further $100 million from banks led by Pinnacle Financial Partners (Nashville). This latest CEMM purchase

Upcoming Listening Retreats

After 21 years, BPLR Listening Room Retreats Community Through Co-Writing experience is offering interest-free payments, barter/trade options and more. Upcoming retreat destinations include Idyllwild, Copenhagen, Flagstaff and Ireland. Detailed information at: listeningroomretreats.com is rumored to be worth somewhere in the eight figures.

CRB Issues Determination

The Copyright Royalty Board has finally issued a determination on U.S. songwriters’ and publishers’ mechanical royalty rates for 2018 to 2022. The ruling increases royalties yearly over the five-year period from 11.4 percent to 15.1 percent by year-end 2022. Royalties will be limited based on the total content cost (TCC), based on key requests from streaming services, and will reinstate a rate ceiling into the royalty calculation. An appendix outlining the latest ruling is available here: bit.ly/3qHtecR

There will now be a 15-day period for rehearing motions before the U.S. Copyright Office must undertake a legal review for any errors—with up to 60 days allowed for completion—after which a determination will be published, with DSP’s given a maximum of six months to make retroactive adjustments.

HYBE Inks Tencent

China’s Tencent Music Entertainment has signed a distribution deal with K-Pop-driven HYBE which will reportedly see HYBE artists streaming on Tencent platforms including QQ Music, KuGou Music, KuWo Music and We Sing. HYBE artists will also be promoted on company platforms. The hope is that the deal will help HYBE artists get more momentum in the Chinese music market (outside of Korea, the majority of K-pop artist business comes from Japan).

Tencent’s music platforms serve roughly 90% of the over 700 million people in China that listen to streaming, with Tencent’s paid membership standing at over 94 million members, and online revenue reaching $510 million in Q1 of 2023.

Int'l Songwriter Winners

West Coast Songwriters wishes to congratulate the International Song Contest winners for 2023, with the grand prize going to Ava Della Pietra for “Optimist.”

In the category of Americana, congratulations go out to Chance McCauley for “Glory,” the winner in the Children’s category goes to Jessica Campbell for “Vuela, Vuela, Fly,” and the Country winners are Mark Beynon, Joe Label and The Rhodes for “Who’s Gonna Drive The Truck (If Mama Goes To Jail).” Winner in the Adult Contemporary group went to Jane Canfield for “Rain In The Desert,” Mark Beynon and Joe Label won for SingerSongwriter with “Angel Before His Time.”

Full details at: westcoastsong writers.org/song-contest-winners

20th Annual IAMA

Registration is now open for the 20th Annual IAMA (International Acoustic Music Awards), which provides an opportunity for acoustic artists everywhere to get prominent radio and web exposure and compete for awards in eight categories including Best Male Artist, Best Female Artist, Best Group/Duo Folk, Americana/ Roots/AAA, Instrumental, Open (any musical style or genre), and Bluegrass/Country, as well as an Overall Grand Prize award worth over $11,000, which includes radio promotion on over 250 radio stations in the U.S. and Canada.

IAMA has a history of winners getting signed and moving up the Billboard charts. Past awardees include Meghan Trainor, Zane Williams, Jeff Gutt, Charlie Dore, Bertie Higgins & Bellamy Brothers, Ryan Sheridan, Pat Byrne, and Deidre McCalla. Entry deadline is Nov. 20, with details at: inacoustic.com

ANDREA BEENHAM (aka Drea

Jo) is a freelance writer and marketing consultant based in Southern California. The South-African born, Canadianraised California transplant has a passion for music, people and fun. She can be reached at drea@dreajo.com

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Too Hot For Brown

The same week as releasing the band’s 34th studio album, People Just Wanna Have Fun, Kool & The Gang founding member, George Brown, releases Too Hot: Kool & The Gang & Me. The self-taught drummer-songwriter with six decades in music, shares a cautionary tale of life lessons.

Redman To Blue Note

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Heavy Hitters Creative

Film, TV and ad sync company, Heavy Hitters Music, with an all-female creative team and Emmy-winning music catalog, has signed a deal with N.Y.C. record label GSI Records to secure sync placement for GSI artists in on and off broadcast media, across film, tv, gaming and advertising.