Crossing The Finish Line

The U.S. Senate passed the Music Modernization Act this week, marking the light at the end of the tunnel for songwriters old and new.

It took forever, but legacy artists and their copyrights among those getting royalties in this updating of ancient pre-Internet laws. Long overdue and a hard fought war.

Be on the lookout for a wild copyright law coming from The EU.

Copyright issues are very complicated but bottom line this EU bill makes Facebook and Google directly liable for content uploaded by their users. It also gives news publishers special rights to restrict sharing of their news.

Google News, Drudge and even Twitter folks who might want to use three seconds of a football game in their tweet. It may be a very new day coming to social media.

Detroit music legend and rock God Bob Seger is getting ready for his final tour. Travelin' Man starts in Michigan in November and plays through May.

If you look at Country hits today, Bob Seger might have been a Country artist with many of his hits. The slow groove Seger's "Night Moves," "Still the Same," "Like a Rock" and "Against The Wind" have all shown in in covers by the top Country stars concerts today. One of the huge influencers of today's popular music. Seger is 73 and spent a lot of time recording in Nashville and Muscle Shoals. He plays Nashville's Arena January 11th.

Politics are 360 degrees these days you can't escape them. Willie was on The View to promote his Sinatra covers album and, of course, the ladies brought up his recent announced support for the Democrat running against Ted Cruz in Texas. Ever the diplomat, Willie said his Democrat support is nothing new and its okay if people disagree.

Faith Hill is featured at a voter registration even in Nashville Monday September 24th. When We All Vote is the sponsor. Remember years ago, Tim said he would like to be Governor someday. Hmmmmm.

Blake Shelton in Tennessee for a little bit this week. Only public appearance was in East Tennessee where they are building a new Ole Red opening in Gatlinburg. The Dolly neighbor will open in March, 2019. Another is planned for 2020 Orlando.

Dustin Lynch is now a newly minted Opry cast member. He was emotional as most are when that happens. Did you see the other big deal for him that night? He was given a plaque marking streams of over one billion! That is a wow! A billion anything is a lot.

It's not Country ... or is it? It's a good pop song regardless. Check out "This Feeling" by The Chainsmokers featuring Kelsea Ballerini. YouTube has the lyric video. Catchy! Maren Morris "The Middle" was a great pop song, too. Don't think that one got much Country attention.

Still ... always impressive to see crossovers.