NASHVILLE (CelebrityAccess) Shane McAnally, Nashville songwriter, producer and co-president of Sony’s Monument Records, announced he is continuing his years-long fight with ASCAP, saying “It’s like a country song cliché: they lied, they cheated, they stole.”
McAnally resigned from ASCAP in 2013 to join Irving Azoff and Randy Grimmett’s PRO startup, Global Music Rights. In 2016, McAnally began to protest against ASCAP’s “arbitrary decision” to change their distribution methodology after he resigned.
“That post-departure decision deprived Shane of substantial monies owed to him – over $1,000,000 – for hit songs which ASCAP to continue to license to radio,” a statement read. McAnally said his claim to retain rights to his catalog was denied by ASCAP’s Board of Review last year. He believes upon termination of his agreement with ASCAP it began to retaliate against him by withholding accountings and payments for more than nine months and when statements arrived, his royalty payments “dropped precipitously.”
“Shane is a world class writer fighting on behalf of all writers who may find themselves in a similar situation,” Azoff said in a statement. “Despite his repeated requests for information related to his distributions, ASCAP never once explained to him, nor could they point to any of their governing documents that justified his treatment. This is just one in a long series of self-serving “rules” they create to manipulate the system to the detriment of the songwriters they are supposed to protect.”
An arbitration panel is expected to convene in the coming weeks.
McAnally has won many awards and is currently nominated in four ACM categories including Songwriter of the Year. This week’s No. 1 country song, Thomas Rhett’s “Marry Me,” was written by him along with 35 other No. 1 hits.
