Pictured: Kevin Jonas, Sr. (Founder and CEO), Denise Jonas (Founder), Terri Jo Box (Songwriter), Roger Hodges (Artist Manager with Jonas Group Entertainment). Photo: Courtesy of Jonas Group Publishing

Jonas Group Entertainment, led by founder/CEO Kevin Jonas, Sr., has opened the Nashville-based publishing division, Jonas Group Publishing, with flagship writer Terri Jo Box.

The company will begin building out its publishing staff and signing more writers to the roster over the next year.

Jonas, Sr., 55, helped guide the early careers of his three sons, Kevin, Joe and Nick, collectively known as the superstar group the Jonas Brothers. The sibling trio rose to popularity via a series of Disney Channel shows, before releasing their 2007 self-titled album, which was certified Platinum. Last year, they returned to the spotlight with their first single in six years “Sucker,” which earned a Grammy nomination earlier this year for Best Pop/Duo Group Performance.

In 2005, Jonas, Sr. launched the talent management company Jonas Group Entertainment, which counts rock group PUBLIC, Melanie Pfirrman, LIVVIA, Mandy Harvey, Lucy Cloud, and author Shaina Kohli Russo on the roster.

Along the way, he co-wrote songs including Jonas Brothers’ “When You Look Me In The Eyes” and Michael W. Smith’s “I Still Have The Dream.”
However, Jonas, Sr.’s musical roots can be traced to Nashville. “My love of Nashville goes way back as a writer and an artist,” he says.

When Jonas was in high school, he began singing clubs and talent contests around Charlotte, North Carolina, performing country classics from Alabama and Kenny Rogers.

One of his fellow contestants in one of those North Carolina talent competitions was a young singer named Randy Traywick—who went on to find country music stardom by the name Randy Travis.

“I remember I would win the contest one week, he would win another week,” Jonas, Sr. said. “He beat me in the finals,” Jonas, Sr. adds.

Jonas, Sr. went on to enter Bible College, and he and his wife moved to Arizona. Still his sights were on music, and he would fly to Nashville and tried unsuccessfully at the time to break into the Nashville music scene. He and his wife soon started a family, and took on an early management role in his sons’ careers as they showed an early talent for music.

Having spent years managing artists to success in the Top 40 space, his love of country music comes full-circle with the new publishing venture. “I’ve always loved the craft of songwriting and I have so much respect for songwriters,” he says.

Flagship writer Box is known for co-writing songs such as Ashley McBryde’s “Bible and a .44” and Miranda Lambert’s “Dear Old Sun,” from her ACM-winning The Weight of These Wings double album.

“That’s the little song that could,” she says of “Bible and a .44.” “Ashley came in with all the pieces. It was her heart and the story about her dad. That song’s been a good run for us, since Eric Church did a live performance of it and Trisha Yearwood put it on her last record, and performed it with Patty Loveless. It’s funny because you go into work that day and write a song and you have no idea where the song is going to take you.”

Beginning in 2010, Box also owned and hosted the songwriters showcase Music Row Freakshow at Nashville venue The Local. Jonas, Sr. had traveled to Nashville numerous times during his career, and met Box through the writers’ round.

“I was amazed at the talent at this show,” Jonas, Sr. said. “She was a shepherd and encourager and emcee over this group and she also wrote incredible songs. I felt like she was a perfect choice as the leader for this group of people and to launch our publishing efforts in Nashville.”

Box began touring around Texas before moving to Nashville, and has been writing full-time for the past decade.

“The roots of Nashville we both have in country and CCM and the wings of Top 40 that he has, it was a no-brainer for me to have the best of both worlds, working with Kevin,” Box says. “He’s also focused on integrity, so that was another thing that drew me to being part of the company. They also set up my situation to where it didn’t look like a lot of deals, because I am able to have creative control in helping to build the company and consulting on writers and artists we work with. He has a long-term game plan. I’m excited about what we are building here in Nashville.”

Initially, Jonas Group Publishing will focus on country music but intends to add to the roster songwriters in various genres, including Contemporary Christian and rock/pop.

“I would love to find some of the incredible talent in the Christian world. I’ve been fortunate to have mainstream Top 40 success, but having a presence in church music and CCM music has been a lifetime passion of mine. But, the rising pop and alt-pop producers in Nashville also inspire me. There is a multi-genre story that is rising fast in Nashville and we want to be part of it.” Jonas, Sr. says.

Despite the unprecedented impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic, BMI closed its fiscal year ended June 30 with $1.311 billion in revenue, a $28 million increase over the previous year. The company also distributed and administered $1.233 billion to its affiliated songwriters, composers and publishers, 3% or $37 million more than last year. For the fifth consecutive year, these results represent the highest reported public performance revenues and royalty distributions of any music rights organization in the world.

BMI President & CEO Mike O’Neill said, “During this unprecedented year, our songwriters and composers’ incredible creativity, talent and resilience were beyond compare and truly inspiring. We were thrilled to be able to distribute our highest royalties ever and deliver them earlier than scheduled to help ease the concerns of our creators and publishers during this challenging time. BMI remains committed to supporting our affiliates during this crisis and beyond, and our team continues to work hard every day to protect the profession of songwriting and composing and ensure the ongoing creation of new music.”

The $1.233 billion total in distributions includes domestic and international royalties, as well as distributions from direct deals that BMI administers on behalf of its publisher and digital service provider clients. Those direct deals, which account for $71 million, represent an increase of $9 million over last year and approximately 6% of BMI’s total distribution.

Though its revenue performance surpassed last year’s results, BMI estimates it absorbed a $60 million negative impact to its revenues due to the COVID -19 effect across multiple businesses. The company’s total domestic revenue, including digital, media and general licensing, came in at $961 million, an increase of $18 million, or 2%, over last year. Strong growth in the digital and radio categories helped weather a decline in other areas, notably the general licensing sector, where businesses such as live concert venues, bars, restaurants, fitness centers, retail establishments and many others faced closures as a result of the pandemic.

Revenue from digital sources represented 32% of BMI’s domestic total with $304 million, an increase of $42 million, or 16%, compared to last year. This marks the first time the digital category eclipsed all others. As people stayed home during the COVID-19 crisis, they turned to indoor entertainment which translated to increases in viewers and listeners. The company saw strong growth from subscription streaming services that feature TV series, movies and music. Notably, BMI entered into new digital audiovisual licensing agreements with Disney+, Apple TV+, HBO Max and Peacock this year.

Total domestic media licensing revenue, comprised of cable & satellite, broadcast television and radio, came in at $527 million, an increase of $14 million, or 3%, over last year. Of this, cable and satellite-derived income remained the largest contributor at $271 million. Radio revenues totaled $155 million, $27 million higher than last year, or an increase of 21%, thanks to BMI’s rate court settlement with the Radio Music Licensing Committee (RMLC) that resulted in a new agreement and retroactive payments. Broadcast television revenue came in at $101 million, flat to last year.

General licensing, along with other income, came in at $130 million, down $39 million, or 23%, from last year. BMI’s international revenue grew to $350 million, up $10 million, or 3%, over last year. This figure would have been $9 million more were it not for a negative foreign exchange impact.

BMI saw its affiliate membership increase by almost 10% this year, with nearly 100,000 new songwriters, composers and publishers joining the organization. Exciting new signings included Succession composer Nicholas Britell, Chance the Rapper, H.E.R., Tame Impala, Dave Mustaine, Juan Salinas and Oscar Salinas of Play-N-Skillz, and the late Pop Smoke, among others, while agreements were extended with Ellie Goulding, Elton John, Khalid, Marshmello, Willie Nelson, Ozuna, Horacio Palencia, Mike Post, Lil Wayne, John Williams, Bebe Winans, and many more. In addition, BMI’s number of licensed musical works grew to over 17 million.
This year, BMI processed approximately two trillion performances. While this number is slightly lower than last year’s total, this is only due to a change in BMI’s internal performance tracking system. The Company actually saw a 26% increase in performances processed when comparing year-over-year with this new approach.