The National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA) will honour songwriters and industry figures at its 2026 Annual Meeting, which will take place at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall in New York on June 10th. Songwriter and performer P!NK will receive the NMPA Songwriter Icon Award, while Julian Bunetta will be honoured with the NMPA Non-Performing Songwriter Icon Award for his "incredible success in multiple genres." NMPA President & CEO David Israelite commented, “We are thrilled to honor ...

British independent music company Material Music Group has launched a publishing arm in partnership with Downtown Music Publishing. The new arm will complement the company's creative and commercial offering, which already includes record labels, artist management and branding. Downtown will assist Material's operations by handling global administration, including registrations and royalty collection. Sean Brosnan, Managing Director at Material Music, commented: “As a music company we always hav...

British independent label Chess Club Records has signed a global distribution agreement with Virgin Music Group, the Universal Music Group-owned distribution and services company for the independent sector. The deal covers Chess Club Records’ repertoire, which includes Alfie Templeman, Coach Party, SOFY, Pixey, Siobhán Winifred, and Zander among others. New recordings from Alfie Templeman, Coach Party and new signing jo from school are expected in coming months as part of the new deal. Chess Cl...