{"id":190929,"date":"2025-09-30T12:13:47","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T16:13:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/2025\/09\/30\/combustion-music-rides-unusual-business-plan-as-it-nears-25th-anniversary\/"},"modified":"2025-09-30T12:13:47","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T16:13:47","slug":"combustion-music-rides-unusual-business-plan-as-it-nears-25th-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/2025\/09\/30\/combustion-music-rides-unusual-business-plan-as-it-nears-25th-anniversary\/","title":{"rendered":"Combustion Music Rides Unusual Business Plan as It Nears 25th\u00a0Anniversary"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\tWhen Combustion Music celebrates its 25th\u00a0anniversary in January, owner Chris Farren<\/strong> expects the Nashville-based publishing company will be firing on all cylinders.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd maybe operating with an empty tank.<\/p>\n

\n\tLike firms in nearly every sector of the economy, Combustion has been forced to retool its business model as the digital era has matured during the 21th\u00a0century, and Farren has developed an unusual plan in which he typically sells off the firm\u2019s entire catalog about every five years, then begins rebuilding for the next sale when the projections make sense.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\tAmy Wadge attends the \"Twiggy\" Special Screening at Vue West End on March 06, 2025 in London, England.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tPublishing Briefs: Ed Sheeran Co-Writer Amy Wadge Joins Concord, Plus Kobalt Signs Disco\u00a0Neil\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\"BLOND:ISH\"<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tHow Blond:ish Plans to Eliminate 42 Tons of Waste From NYC Nightlife Every Year: ‘This Is My Passion’\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tSuspect Arrested in Theft of Beyonc\u00e9’s Unreleased Music\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

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\n\tWhile the company\u2019s inventory isn\u2019t currently on the market, Farren believes a sale \u201cwill be imminent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNeither Farren nor a pair of Nashville publishing insiders could name a similar firm that operates with the same game plan \u2014 if there is one, said one of those executives, it\u2019s \u201cnot common.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tFarren started his music career as a songwriter, generating such \u201990s hits as Deana Carter<\/strong>\u2018s \u201cHow Do I Get There,\u201d Boy Howdy<\/strong>\u2018s \u201cShe\u2019d Give Anything,\u201d Kevin Sharp<\/strong>\u2018s \u201cIf You Love Somebody\u201d and Collin Raye<\/strong>\u2018s \u201cIf I Were You.\u201d He produced Carter, Boy Howdy and Sharp during their commercial peaks and, more recently, guided hits for\u00a0 Corey Kent <\/strong>and Jameson Rodgers<\/strong>. Farren also signed Jeffrey Steele<\/strong> (\u201cBig Deal,\u201d \u201cMy Town\u201d) to his first songwriting contract, a move that started Farren\u2019s publishing journey.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAs a songwriter, I had sold some catalogs along the way, and I realized I wasn\u2019t scared of that,\u201d Farren notes. \u201cI found that the right deal could be really smart because it gives you money now and gives you money to invest for later, as opposed to just waiting for the money to come in.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tCash flow historically posed a major hurdle for indie publishers. When Farren and then-partner Ken Levitan<\/strong>, of Vector Management, founded Combustion in 2001, it typically took three to five years for a publisher to begin seeing income. The first revenue comes a little faster now from streaming companies, though the most substantial income is still performance royalties from radio broadcasts, and since most country hits take three to four times longer to reach their chart peaks than they did 25 years ago, the biggest income streams arrive about three months slower.<\/p>\n

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\n\tAt its start, Combustion was designed as a publisher and label, with much of its focus on developing soundtrack albums. Although once profitable, sales of movie-music collections plummeted as consumers shifted to streaming individual songs. That\u2019s part of what spurred a change in the business plan.<\/p>\n

\n\tFortunately for Combustion, Farren is good at identifying young songwriting talent. During the Nashville Songwriter Awards on Sept.\u00a023, contemporary Christian music\u2019s Matthew West<\/strong>, a former Combustion writer, claimed his second songwriter-artist trophy, while Ashley Gorley <\/strong>(\u201cYou\u2019re Gonna Miss This,\u201d \u201cAll-American Girl\u201d), also a former Combustion affiliate, took home his ninth. In fact, Gorley, Gordie Sampson <\/strong>(\u201cJesus, Take the Wheel,\u201d \u201cJust a Dream\u201d) and rock band Kings of Leon <\/strong>were among the earliest signees for the company, which also counts Zach Crowell <\/strong>(\u201cBody Like a Back Road\u201d), Blair Daly <\/strong>(\u201cSmile,\u201d \u201cBeer Money\u201d), Matt Jenkins<\/strong> (\u201cCop Car,\u201d \u201cSong for Another Time\u201d) and the late Brett James<\/strong> (\u201cSomething in the Water,\u201d \u201cI Hold On\u201d) among its former writers. The current iteration includes Kent, Brett Tyler<\/strong> (\u201cMan Made a Bar,\u201d \u201cWild As Her\u201d) and Thomas Archer <\/strong>(\u201cWind Up Missin\u2019 You,\u201d \u201cTruth About You\u201d). Two Combustion creatives, Archer and Blake Bollinger<\/strong>, were among the writers on Kent\u2019s recent Country Airplay No.\u00a01, \u201cThis Heart,\u201d while Combustion composers Nick Sainato<\/strong>, Chris McKenna<\/strong> and Jessica Farren<\/strong> are part of the team behind Josh Ross<\/strong>\u2018 current single, \u201cHate How You Look.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe writers are key to Farren\u2019s catalog sales strategy. Publishers and composers split the rights to any title in their agreements. A Combustion sale transfers the publishing piece to the buyer, though the writers retain their own share. Meanwhile, the writers\u2019 contracts remain with Combustion, so even as Farren sells off the copyrights, he keeps the talent that begins developing new titles for the next version of the catalog.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe\u2019re not starting with zero writers,\u201d Farren notes. \u201cWe\u2019re starting with zero songs.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Margo<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\n\tOnce Combustion zeroes out the library, it also restarts with an established staff that\u2019s incentivized to rebuild toward the next catalog sale. Farren offers employees a percentage of the revenue from those deals in exchange for a smaller weekly paycheck. All six current staff members have accepted that offer.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s worked out well in every case,\u201d Farren says. \u201cIt kept my overhead down. It kept me hungry. It kept us motivated. It kept us kind of aligned as a team \u2014 we\u2019re all in it together and we all win it together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTo collect their share, employees have to remain on the team through the sale\u2019s consummation, an agreement that encourages continuity. VP Chris \u201cFalcon\u201d Van Belkom<\/strong> has been with Combustion 21 years; director operations Kelly Lyons<\/strong> has been in place for nine years.<\/p>\n

\n\tFrank Liddell<\/strong>, who founded indie Carnival Music in the late 1990s, has routinely turned down offers to sell his catalog. But he noted that as publishing has grown more difficult in the streaming era, every business model that improves the outlook for independent companies is worth pursuing.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAnybody can walk around and say, \u2018We care about the music and that\u2019s all we care about,’\u201d Liddell suggested. \u201cNone of us would be in business anymore. So it\u2019s a very delicate balance, and when somebody finds\u00a0\u2026\u00a0 an engine or a vehicle to stay independent, to have another voice other than being a major, [that\u2019s] necessary for our business to continue to flourish.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Subscribe to\u00a0Billboard Country Update<\/a>, the industry\u2019s must-have source for news, charts, analysis and features.\u00a0Sign up for free delivery<\/a>\u00a0every week.<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/figure>\n

\n\tFarren is optimistic that Combustion will be firing on all cylinders \u2014 creatively and economically \u2014 as the calendar rolls over in a few months to 2026, bringing a 25th\u00a0anniversary with maybe two reasons to party.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cA payday as well as a celebration would be my goal,\u201d Farren says. \u201cThat would be even sweeter to say: 25 years and everybody\u2019s in a really good place. And they\u2019re going to get a nice bonus.\u201d<\/p>\n


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Aller \u00e0 la source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Combustion Music celebrates its 25th\u00a0anniversary in January, owner Chris Farren expects the Nashville-based publishing company will be firing on all cylinders. And maybe operating with an empty tank. Like firms in nearly every sector of the economy, Combustion has been forced to retool its business model as the digital era has matured during the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-190929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-musique","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190929\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}